ראוזנוואסער אינטער אינוועסטיגעשאן

GOSHEN — An investigation into allegations of judicial corruption in Brooklyn is sending ripples into Orange County.

The Orange County Board of Elections received a subpoena in April, seeking decade-old campaign records of former County Court Judge Stewart Rosenwasser, who returned to private law practice in 2006.

But people familiar with the investigation said Rosenwasser isn't the target. Those sources pointed out that the subpoena originated in Brooklyn, where a landmark corruption trial last year led to a state prison sentence for Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Gerald Garson.

"The scuttlebutt is there's supposedly an investigation of judges going on in Brooklyn beyond Garson, and this may have come up in the course of that," said a source in the state court system who's familiar with the allegations. "Or, they may be looking to put something to rest."

The subpoena doesn't refer to a case against a particular person. It only indicates that it pertains to a confidential investigation that began last year. Spokesmen for Brooklyn District Attorney Charles Hynes didn't return a call.

Rosenwasser said he was baffled by the subpoena. He wasn't served personally, he hasn't been asked to testify and he's been off the bench since 2006. The records requested covered his 1999 campaign for Orange County Court.

County court judges handle mostly criminal cases. But because of a shortage of state Supreme Court justices in 2004 and 2005, Rosenwasser served as an acting Supreme Court justice in two high-profile cases involving the Village of Kiryas Joel, a community of about 20,000 Satmar Hasidic Jews in southern Orange County with close ties to the larger Satmar community in Brooklyn.

In both 2004 and 2005, Rosenwasser also ran for state Supreme Court. He received a few thousand dollars' worth of campaign donations from residents of Kiryas Joel, but that amount was dwarfed by the usual campaign contributions from lawyers and law firms, and the KJ contributions represented less than 5 percent of the $208,200 that Rosenwasser's campaign collected for the state Supreme Court races.

Last week, Rosenwasser confirmed an incident that he wasn't able to discuss while he was a sitting judge. In 2005, someone apparently hacked into his cell phone while he was in the midst of deciding a ferocious dispute between Rabbi Aaron Teitelbaum, leader of a Kiryas Joel faction of Satmars, and Rabbi Zalman Teitelbaum, spiritual leader of the main Satmar synagogue in Brooklyn. They were quarreling about who should have access to a cemetery in Kiryas Joel.

Rosenwasser reported the hacking incident to the state Office of Court Administration. He also called lawyers who were involved in the case into his chambers for an off-the-record conference.

"Here's the way it went: We got called into chambers, and nobody knew why until we were there," said Bruce Dunn Sr., one of the lawyers who was there. "He related that he had received an odd message from his cell-phone carrier that led him to believe that someone was able to access his cell-phone records.

"He said that if there's any reason anybody wanted him off the case, then he would recuse himself. If anybody thought he was prejudiced or partial, in any way, then he would recuse himself. Everyone said they didn't want him off the case."

The state Office of Court Administration doesn't acknowledge internal complaints by judges. But in 2004, another judge, Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Melvin Barasch, spoke of a minefield of threats, unfounded allegations of corruption and anonymous rumors that awaited his every move in another case involving a civil dispute between Satmar factions.

Barasch said there ought to be an investigation.