Police are looking for a 41-year-old man with a slight connection to Lehman College who sent administrators at the Bronx school a frightening email threatening New York Sheriff Anthony Miranda, police said Saturday.
Detectives have released a photo of Dimitry Rappoport and are asking for the public’s help in locating him.
Rappoport is accused of sending an email to Lehman College officials threatening to harm Sheriff Miranda, a law enforcement source said. More precise details about the contents of the threat were not immediately released.
Lehman College administrators received the email on Oct. 29, police said. It was one of many emails Rappoport had sent to the college since attending a few seminars there a year earlier.
Mayor Adams asked Miranda to take over the city sheriff’s office in May 2022. Before becoming a city sheriff, Miranda served as a sergeant for the NYPD, director of safety for the city’s Administration for Children’s Services, and for many years as head of the National Latino Officers Association.
Miranda’s deputies are the tip of the spear in the city’s ongoing battle against illegal cannabis stores.
The city’s Department of Investigation is investigating whether the city sheriff’s office improperly seized money from the unlicensed pot shops they raided during Operation Padlock to Protect, a massive crackdown on the illegal shops that the sheriff’s office jointly with the NYPD.
Sheriff Miranda said he was made aware of the threat and was taking precautions.
“We are working with the NYPD and the sheriff’s office to address any safety concerns for myself and my family,” Miranda told the Daily News on Saturday. “Any threat must be taken seriously and evaluated for an appropriate response.
“The work of the sheriff’s office will continue to move forward,” he said.
An email seeking comment from City Hall and the city’s Department of Finance, which oversees the city’s sheriffs, was not immediately returned Saturday.
Police are asking anyone with information that could lead to Rappoport’s arrest to call Crime Stoppers at (800) 577-TIPS. All conversations are treated confidentially.
