Guilty Plea Expected From Kerik

Former New York City Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik is expected to plead guilty in a Bronx courtroom today to charges he accepted gifts and loans that he failed to report as required by city regulations, according to sources familiar with the investigation.

As a result of weeks of plea negotiations between Kerik’s attorney, Joseph Tacopina, and the Bronx district attorney’s office, Kerik, 50, is to plead guilty in state Supreme Court to two misdemeanor violations of the city administrative code, said one legal source, who asked not to be identified because the agreement was still pending. Under the agreement, Kerik would face no jail time but would be fined, the source said.

“We are happy to bring closure and finality,” Tacopina said Thursday.

Misdemeanor convictions would not jeopardize Kerik’s ability to obtain licenses to work as a private investigator and to carry a weapon.

Kerik, once on a fast track in law enforcement, rose from police detective to driver for then-mayoral candidate Rudolph W. Giuliani. After Giuliani was elected, he named Kerik to head the Department of Correction and run the city’s sprawling jail system. Kerik became police commissioner in 2000.

Giuliani recommended him to President Bush in late 2004 to be the first-ever secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, but Kerik abruptly withdrew his nomination in the face of numerous allegations of improper professional and personal conduct while he was a public official.

Kerik severed his business ties to Giuliani’s consulting business in early 2005.