Ronald Hertz had cause for celebration. A day earlier, the former Nassau narcotics officer had been awarded a lifetime disability pension of $32,304 a year.

But despite the tax-free jackpot, Hertz was seething. Under criminal charges for dealing cocaine, he wanted vengeance against a man he suspected had snitched on him.

Early on the morning of Aug. 6, 1986, before his target was out of bed, Hertz kicked in the door of the man's Manhasset house and threatened him with a knife.

It was a surprising physical feat for Hertz, who had said he was disabled with a back injury. One physician had said Hertz "couldn't bend or lift, walk more than a block or sit for more than 20 minutes."

But Hertz' display of strength didn't jeopardize his state disability pension. Once they are awarded, they are never re-evaluated. In fact, he has continued to collect it even while serving his 8 1/3-year-to-life sentence in the state prison system - including a stretch in Attica - in connection with the drug and break-in charges.

Currently in a work-release program run by the Queensboro Correctional Facility, Hertz, 47, is eligible for parole in October. He didn't respond to a request for an interview.

Unlikely as it may seem, Hertz' story isn't unique in the annals of police disability pensions. The pensions sometimes serve as the police version of corporate golden parachutes for officers who face criminal or departmental charges.

Among the most serious cases reviewed by Newsday are police officers who became drug dealers or burglars, then were awarded such pensions. In other cases, officers facing departmental charges for violations ranging from child molesting to sabotaging investigations are getting the tax-free payments.

Police officials acknowledge that many officers apply for disability when they get in trouble, cushioning their downfalls with enhanced retirement benefits. Frequently, the accidents in which these officers claim injuries come on the heels of internal investigations. Often, they are unwitnessed. In other cases, those who get in trouble resurrect old injuries to gain disability status. And when the disability pension is granted, it puts an end to the departmental prosecution.

Perhaps the most unusual disability case on the books involves two Suffolk County undercover narcotics officers. The officers, James Kuhn and Raymond Gutowski, were awarded pensions after they claimed disability for cocaine addiction that they said was job-related, and for the stress of being investigated. Both left the department in disgrace, but were acquitted on criminal charges before securing their disability pensions.

Among the other cases Newsday examined: Nassau Police Officer Eugene Sullivan, who was awarded his $40,120 annual pension at age 41 in 1988, about a year after being found guilty on departmental charges of sexually molesting a young relative over a number of years.

Suffolk Det. Lt. Richard Franzese, former commander of the narcotics squad, who was charged in a departmental case with tipping off a suspect in a drug investigation but retired in 1992 on a $56,823-a-year disability pension at age 46 before his departmental trial could be held.

Suffolk Police Officer Theodore Franzese, his brother, who pleaded guilty to departmental charges of tipping off the target of another investigation, then retired in 1992 at age 47 on a $48,888-a-year disability pension. Nassau Police Officer John Baitz, who was granted his $26,730-a-year disability pension at age 36 while under indictment for burglarizing businesses on his beat in 1984.

Nassau Police Officer Edward Jensen, who faced both criminal charges and internal investigation, said he suffered a disabling back injury late one night in 1985 when his police scooter hit a curb. He got a $34,054 annual tax-free pension, then placed ads in the PBA newsletter for his new business: installing automatic transmissions. Suffolk Capt. Harold McCormick was demoted from inspector and relieved of command of the Second Precinct after a corruption investigation. Within months, he reported that he had stepped backward and tripped over a fallen parking lot stanchion, injuring his leg and back. Pension: $46,271 a year, tax-free.

Nassau Police Officer Denis Dougherty, who retired at age 39 on a $39,512-a-year tax-free disability pension two months before felony cocaine charges were filed against him in 1989.

The retirement system, run by the state comptroller's office, gives no weight to whether a disability applicant is under criminal or disciplinary charges when their applications are considered. By law, an officer's criminal record or alleged malfeasance isn't relevant in awarding the pensions. Efforts by the comptroller's office to change that have failed in the State Legislature.

"It just seems to me that you shouldn't get a police pension check in prison," said Suffolk Police Commissioner Peter Cosgrove. "Something doesn't sit right with that."

The comptroller's office doesn't conduct its own investigations of accidents or look into the criminal or disciplinary records of disability applicants. Instead, state officials rely on police department reports, filed by the officers, that they were injured, and the findings of doctors.

Because most disability pensions are for bad-back or other orthopedic complaints in which medical evidence can be cloudy, the applicant's complaints of pain can be the deciding factor.

"It might be helpful to know what's happening in a police officer's life at the time he claims he was injured," said Suffolk Deputy Police Commissioner Robert Kearon. "Is internal affairs looking at him closely? Is his job in jeopardy? It's certainly not smoking-gun proof that perhaps there's a degree of fraud involved in the claims, but I would certainly be interested in knowing what's happening.

"It doesn't take a great deal of training as a detective to be somewhat suspicious if someone's got some problems with internal affairs and then files a disability claim in order to leave the job."

"I don't know why they can't be more aggressive in their investigations," Nassau Police Commissioner Donald Kane said of the comptroller's office. "If you're going to make a decision that has a financial impact on the state, you should make it based on some reasonable premise that you have checked things out."

For example, Hertz - who wound up in Attica - said his injury occurred when he jumped out of the way of a skidding car while directing traffic at an accident scene. A supervisor noted that there were no witnesses, civilian or police, to the incident.

Many officials believe the system should be changed. "It's a foreign concept to me that someone should be convicted of a crime and get a pension check sent to jail," Kane said. "Personally, I find it outrageous."

Kane's predecessor, the late Nassau Police Commissioner Samuel Rozzi, was so angered by Hertz' pension that he dispatched a delegation to Albany to question how Hertz could have gotten it, recalls Nassau Deputy Insp. John Sharp.

"Commissioner Rozzi was particularly incensed by that and sent myself and three other people to Albany demanding to know what's going on here," Sharp recalled. Their message to the state was, "This is crazy. How can you possibly give [disability] retirement to somebody who's serving time on a drug conviction?" Sharp said. "It's frustrating as hell," Kane said.

Other retirement systems can deny benefits to public servants with blemished records. New York's workers' compensation system cancels benefits to convicted felons. Several large states and the federal government can take away pensions from employees who commit certain crimes. New York City has a mechanism to keep disability pensions from going to police suspected of malfeasance, by terminating them before they receive their pensions.

The state comptroller's office has backed a pension forfeiture statute for New York since 1988. "The Legislature has shown no interest in it," said a pension official who asked not to be named, speculating that opposition to the bill is due, at least partly, to the fact that it would affect lawmakers as well as police officers.

Each year, the bill is dead on arrival, opposed by a rock-strong public employees lobby. Police unions also have opposed forfeiture, expressing concern that a dedicated officer could lose his pension from one split-second misjudgment in a dangerous situation.

The bill is so unpopular that its Assembly sponsor is the "Committee on Rules," generally an indication that no member of the Assembly is willing to affix his or her name to it.

State Sen. Caesar Trunzo (R-Brentwood) has for several years sponsored the bill in the Senate, where his Committee on Civil Service and Pensions must act on the legislation.

"There's strong opposition by labor unions on the legislation, and I don't think it's quite understood," Trunzo said, explaining why the bill is stuck in his committee. "Nobody is clamoring to pass this type of legislation. It's just been laying dormant."

Trunzo said he had brought the bill up for discussion in committee several years ago, but it was clear that it had little support.

In recommending such a statute, Nassau District Attorney Denis Dillon remarked several years ago: "Dishonest employees should not be able to feed from the public coffers long after accomplishing their misdeeds."

The Feerick Commission on Government Ethics Reform also recommended in 1988 that the pensions of employees convicted of betraying the public trust be subject to forfeiture. Since then, the comptroller's office, with support from Gov. Mario Cuomo and the attorney general's office, has recommended a pension forfeiture statute in the State Legislature.

"Terminating pension benefits for those who are convicted of a work-related felony will send a strong message that abuse of public trust will not be tolerated," the comptroller's office said in a memo to the Legislature.

But Michael Axelrod of Mineola, a lawyer who represents several police groups, argues the other side. "Everybody perceives themselves as being unjustly accused and doesn't want to see a law enacted that's going to penalize them and jeopardize their pensions on the one bad day, the one bad decision they make," Axelrod said. "So how do you distinguish between a Ronnie Hertz who's in business as a drug dealer as opposed to an officer who just has a bad day?"

"You have to wonder about people who are involved in dealing drugs, and they're supposedly cops, getting the same benefit," said Nassau PBA President Gary DelaRaba. "But nobody wants to draw the line."

There is also concern that a police officer's family could be penalized if his or her pension is taken away. To address that, the legislation proposed by the comptroller's office would allow judges to consider the family's financial situation when deciding whether to revoke pension benefits.

Noting that Hertz collects a pension while in jail, disability lawyer Richard Lerner said, "His wife probably survived only because of the pension that he had. Otherwise, financially it would have been a disaster for his family."

Rosemary Wenzel, the wife of a former Suffolk officer, Harry Wenzel, was awarded his $7,220 annual disability pension benefits by a court in 1984, the year after Wenzel was sentenced to a 25-year prison term for stabbing her in their Sayville home. Harry Wenzel had been on leave from the Suffolk Police Department since 1981 for a psychiatric disorder.

"Mr. Wenzel had a family," said John McManaman, assistant deputy comptroller. "If he hadn't gotten the retirement benefit, she wouldn't have gotten anything either."

Here are the stories of some Long Island officers who received disability pensions after facing criminal charges or departmental investigation:

EUGENE SULLIVAN:

A CASE OF CHILD ABUSE

Nassau Police Officer Eugene Sullivan was injured on the job six months after departmental charges were brought against him alleging that he had sexually abused a young relative.

Police department charges were filed against Sullivan in January, 1986. The department accused him of molesting the child over a period of six years, according to court documents in a related civil lawsuit. Sullivan denied the allegations. The police department also accused Sullivan of lying for saying the minor had fabricated the sex allegations.

Six months later, with department charges against him still pending, Sullivan reported that he injured his shoulder while struggling with a female prisoner. An arthrogram of the shoulder found nothing wrong. An MRI, however, revealed a neck problem.

Sullivan was found guilty of the departmental charges in October, 1987, and fined 35 days' pay, according to police department records. In December, 1988, he was granted a disability pension by the state, and retirement system officials said there was no dispute among doctors that Sullivan had a disability, albeit mild.

Sullivan's orthopedist, Dr. Stephen Zolan, later wrote that the officer was not able to "bend, climb, stoop, squat or crawl, lift or carry, push or pull weight more than a couple of pounds. He is unable to sit for more than 10-15 minutes, stand the same or walk more than 1/2 block without having to stop, even with a cane."

Sullivan, now 46, collects a $40,120 tax-free pension. Contacted recently by Newsday, he did not want to discuss his case. "There's no love lost between me and the people in the police department," he said. "I was improperly treated by them."

RICHARD FRANZESE:

INVESTIGATION, THEN A CRASH

As he drove down Middle Road in Bayport on May 29, 1990, Suffolk Det. Lt. Richard Franzese's career seemed on the verge of an embarrassing and costly ending.

Not long ago, he'd been one of the department's rising stars. He'd been chosen to take over and rebuild the narcotics squad after the unit was racked by allegations of illegal wiretapping and drug use by officers during the 1980s.

But now, Franzese was just two days away from a departmental trial on charges that he had tipped off a suspect about a drug investigation. He'd been transferred out of his prestigious command slot in narcotics and placed in what some colleagues considered a make-work job in headquarters.

To make matters worse, Franzese was two months short of 20 years on the job. That meant his regular pension would be sharply reduced if the department convicted and fired him before he put in his 20 years.

Suddenly, Franzese's unmarked police car slammed into a brown Mercury Cougar that was crossing Middle Road just ahead. His car hit the Cougar's rear quarter panel, spinning it around.

According to the police report, neither driver was injured and no tickets were issued.

After the accident, Franzese went on sick leave, his departmental trial was postponed, he got his 20 years and he filed an application for a disability pension. He said in a lawsuit and in pension records that the accident left him with bad discs in his neck and a disorder that caused him to fall asleep involuntarily for a few seconds several times a day.

According to police department records, Franzese had been charged in 1989 with three counts of conduct unbecoming an officer, alleging that he "wrongfully revealed confidential information to a potential target of a drug investigation . . . failed to divulge crucial information to an undercover narcotics officer . . . [and] wrongfully caused the termination of a narcotics investigation."

Police sources said Franzese was accused of warning a racquetball acquaintance that she had become a suspect in a marijuana investigation begun by one of the precincts, and that after the department began investigating the leak, Franzese tried to fabricate an alibi that he'd talked to the woman because she was an informant. They said the district attorney's office opted to let the department handle the case rather than bringing a criminal prosecution.

Franzese would not discuss the case but said: "What they alleged to have taken place was totally untrue."

Medical records examined by Newsday show that doctors differed on whether Franzese actually suffered from a sleeping disorder. His own doctor diagnosed "post-traumatic hypersomnia which is a direct result of his accident." Franzese was examined over two days and nights at the sleep disorder center at the State University at Stony Brook, but the study ended "without evidence of an intrinsic sleep disorder." Given the history furnished by Franzese, the report said, "a post-traumatic hypersomnia seems the most likely diagnosis."

But the neurologist to whom the state pension system first sent Franzese didn't agree. According to one document, Dr. Robert Roth "rejected the hypersomnia diagnosis on the basis of the fact that Richard had not lost consciousness during the accident and did not demonstrate . . . [memory loss] surrounding the event. Dr. Roth suspected that Richard was malingering and would be able to continue working as a police officer."

A pension system spokesman said the agency subsequently sent Franzese to two other doctors who did find him disabled. The spokesman would not say why the additional doctors were consulted. According to one doctor's report, Franzese completed a document as part of his evaluation by the state reporting mental problems such as "being highly distractable, trouble in concentrating, tending to lose his train of thought easily, experiencing his mind going blank at times, forgetting where he had left things, people's names and recent events."

His tax-free pension of $56,823 a year was approved in 1992. When he retired at age 46, his departmental disciplinary case had to be abandoned. A lawyer for Franzese, Scott Lutzer, said Franzese is also collecting Social Security disability payments, which are only for those unable to do "substantial" work, according to a Social Security handbook. State licensing records show that in March, 1993, Franzese and another retired Suffolk police officer launched a new business, Long Island Investigations Service in Bay Shore. He's now a state-licensed private investigator.

Nevertheless, when Franzese filed a required statement with Suffolk County in October, 1993, in connection with his workers' compensation benefits, he said that he wasn't working at all.

THEODORE FRANZESE:

HE TAINTED PROBE

For Theodore Franzese, a 21-year-career as a Suffolk police officer ended much as it had for his brother Richard - a disciplinary case, followed by an auto accident, followed by a disability pension.

And, as with the departmental charges that torpedoed his brother's career, Theodore Franzese's case also involved accusations of tipping off a suspect in a police investigation, according to department documents and police sources.

A departmental order issued March 25, 1991, states that Franzese pleaded guilty to eight violations of department rules, including charges that he: "discussed information of a confidential nature regarding departmental business on two separate occasions . . . failed to provide members of the department with information pertaining to possible criminal activity . . . instructed an informant to provide false information to department personnel."

Police sources said the case involved an investigation of a store owner suspected of receiving stolen property. Detectives spotted Franzese going into the store and told him to stay away because of the investigation, the sources said. Instead, they said, Franzese came back and warned the owner, and the investigation fizzled.

A month after Franzese pleaded guilty and was fined 30 days' accrued leave, an accident ended his police career. At 4:08 a.m. on April 27, 1991, his police car collided with another car in Huntington. The woman driving the other car was charged with driving while intoxicated. Franzese, who had been wearing his seatbelt, complained of pain in his lower back and neck. He went on sick leave.

Medical records of his case show disagreement among doctors over the seriousness of his injuries. His case is complicated by reports that Franzese did not follow some doctors' suggestions for improving his condition.

The records illustrate what police officials say has been a repeated source of frustration: what to do about a patient seeking a disability pension who does not follow doctors' recommendations on how to get better. The system cannot force pension-seekers to act on doctors' recommendations for surgery, weight loss or therapy. Police officials say they believe some applicants delay such measures until after they get their pensions, although records on Theodore Franzese do not suggest this was true in his case. Once the pensions are granted, they are never re-evaluated.

Franzese's orthopedist, Dr. Jacob Lehman, diagnosed him as totally disabled for police work, and an MRI report said he had small herniations on three discs in his back. Franzese told doctors he was in constant pain and couldn't drive, and records say he also showed symptoms of depression. A doctor who examined Franzese for the county also found him totally disabled.

Other doctors examined him, looked at the same MRI and drew different conclusions. One said the MRI appeared to show only bulges in the discs, a less serious condition than herniations. Another thought the irregularities were herniations but found no indication they were pressing on nerves, which is how herniations cause pain. The county sent Franzese to a chiropractor who reported his problems as mild and resolving and said he should be able to work in a few weeks.

The Comprehensive Pain and Rehabilitation Center at the State University at Stony Brook tried to test Franzese's muscle strength but reported that the tests were inconclusive because of his "submaximal and inconsistent effort." One doctor wrote: "Previous recommendations for physical therapy have not been accepted by the patient, and this continues to be a significant impeding factor in the patient's overall ability to recover."

On May 21, 1992, the state granted Franzese a tax-free $48,888-a-year disability pension and he retired at age 47. He did not respond to a request for an interview.

JOHN BAITZ:

GUILTY OF THEFT WHILE ON HIS BEAT

In 1984, while under internal and grand jury investigation for allegedly stealing from factories on his beat while on duty, Nassau Police Officer John Baitz applied for disability retirement.

Within months of his application, a Nassau County grand jury indicted him on larceny and burglary charges. From one Westbury business, the indictment said, he took walkie-talkies, a microwave oven and a digital clock. From another, it said, he took a router. And from another, a heater. He was suspended from his job.

Ten years earlier, Baitz had been chasing a suspect in Jericho when he fell and injured both wrists and elbows, fracturing one elbow. Baitz had surgery in 1974 to repair damage to the elbow, but records show he had complained about the elbow hurting him again in 1980. Then, in 1981, Baitz said that he reinjured his elbow when he tripped on carpet at the Second Precinct in Woodbury. After his second elbow surgery, in 1982, Baitz continued to complain of elbow pain. His elbow problems formed the basis for his disability claim.

As his criminal case was winding its way through the courts, Baitz' disability request was getting favorable consideration in Albany. During his suspension and while charges were pending, the state retirement system granted him a disability pension of $26,730 a year for life, tax-free. Internal departmental charges stemming from the alleged thefts had to be discontinued once the retirement was approved. In the criminal case, Baitz pleaded guilty to petty larceny and was placed on probation for three years.

Baitz, 46, would not talk to a reporter when contacted at his Port Jefferson Station home.

EDWARD JENSEN:

INCIDENT OUT OF TOWN

Edward Jensen's accident followed a decline in his standing in the Nassau Police Department.

Jensen's problems with the department followed his arrest on burglary and assault charges in upstate Ulster County. Details of the incident are sketchy, but Nassau police said Jensen, at the time an undercover narcotics officer, and his partner had gone to Ulster County to meet with an informant.

There, they were accused of breaking into a man's home. A chase ensued and Jensen was ultimately arrested by local authorities. He was charged with burglary and assault, but later pleaded guilty to harassment, a violation.

Internal affairs began looking into Jensen's activities, and, after a series of tour changes, he ended up performing patrol duties in the area of the Sunrise Mall in Massapequa.

Late one Saturday night in April, 1985, as Jensen drove around the mall complex in a three-wheel scooter, he said he hit a broken curb. The impact jolted him upward, he said, and he injured his back. Doctors diagnosed a herniated disc, which was documented by magnetic resonance imaging.

After his accident Jensen told the department he was totally incapable of working. "He couldn't drive to work. He couldn't get out of bed. He couldn't walk," according to a police official who testified in a related civil lawsuit.

But the police department was suspicious. They put Jensen, a part-time used car dealer, under surveillance. Police investigators, armed with a videocamera and a zoom lens, spied him raking leaves, bending, and driving a tow truck - work he said he was incapable of performing. Dr. John M. Nicoletti of Wantagh examined Jensen for the police department. After watching the videotape, Nicoletti commented: "It appears that his activity is much more than both he and his wife were willing to admit to." The state retirement system initially denied Jensen's pension claim in 1986, but a state hearing officer subsequently overturned the decision. Today, Jensen, 48, collects $34,054 each year, tax-free.

Since his disability pension was granted, Jensen has advertised in the Nassau PBA newsletter for his new business - transmission repairs and installations. Det. Sgt. Robert Kiesel of the Nassau police medical unit, who has done surveillance on Jensen's Mt. Sinai home, said he does the work in a garage under his house.

"It goes under almost the whole house," Kiesel said. "There are fluorescent fixtures that hang from the ceiling. It looks like an underground parking lot in the city. That's where he does all the work on the cars."

While the department was investigating him, Kiesel said, Jensen covered the garage windows with paper. Approached at his home where he was washing a car, Jensen would not discuss his case with Newsday.

HAROLD MCCORMICK:

RELIEVED OF COMMAND

Harold McCormick was an inspector commanding the Suffolk Police Department's Second Precinct in Huntington until his career was ruined by allegations that he was shaking down local businesses. One published report had McCormick insisting that a Christmas-tree seller give him a free tree. At the time McCormick refused to comment and his attorney denied the charges.

A grand jury looked into the allegations, but did not indict McCormick. Police officials believed the allegations warranted official action, according to Deputy Commissioner Robert Kearon. In the fall of 1985, McCormick was relieved of command of the Second Precinct. In January, 1986, he was demoted to captain and, later, transferred to the auto-impound lot, in Westhampton.

Just months after his transfer, in December, 1986, McCormick reported a fall. A report of the accident says McCormick was outside the impound office measuring the outside dimensions of the building, which was to be repainted. While stepping back, McCormick fell over a parking lot stanchion, landing on his right side, breaking the fall with his right wrist, he said.

McCormick later complained of total loss of sensation in his right leg, inability to drive and numbness in his right hand. McCormick's physicians diagnosed a back problem, with Dr. Stephen Zolan concluding that McCormick had a disc herniation. But an MRI showed no herniation, only a bulging disc and degenerative changes in the spine, which can be caused both by trauma and by aging.

In July, 1987, McCormick was admitted to Huntington Hospital, where a nurse noted: "Continue to find patient sitting up with no... apparent distress despite his statements of continued ...pain and my instruction to remain flat in bed." McCormick, now 62, was awarded a disability pension in November, 1987, of $46,271 a year, tax-free.

John McManaman of the pension system said the orthopedist who examined McCormick for the state agreed that he was disabled. Repeated calls by Newsday to McCormick's Northport home were not returned.

DENIS DOUGHERTY:

COCAINE-SALE CHARGES

Denis Dougherty retired from the Nassau Police Department on a disability pension two months before felony drug charges were brought against him in 1989.

Commissioner Kane recalls that the police department considered speeding up the criminal investigation against Dougherty before his pension came through so they could "lock him up while he was on the job, and fire him." But, Kane remembers, the criminal investigation took longer than the police department had hoped.

Dougherty had had at least two run-ins with the department's internal affairs unit during the latter part of his 16-year career.

The subject of several internal investigations, Dougherty was demoted and fined 60 days' pay in 1984 on departmental charges of involvement in bookmaking, according to records in a related civil suit. Then-County Attorney Edward O'Brien said in an affidavit that "while this conduct constituted a violation of the Penal Law, the district attorney declined to prosecute."

Another scrape came in June, 1988, when he was arrested for allegedly sexually abusing a female emergency medical technician after following her home from a bar. A grand jury returned no indictment. Dougherty said the woman was drunk at the time she made the allegations.

The final investigation of him while a police officer involved charges that he was selling cocaine while out on sick leave, beginning in the fall of 1988. And the department was hoping to conclude the probe before his disability retirement claim was decided by the state.

He had been diagnosed with back problems, the result of an attempt to control a mental patient in the back of a patrol car.

But the drug case took longer than the pension application. On April 16, 1989, Dougherty was notified that he had been awarded state disability retirement. In June of that year, he was arrested on 16 counts of sale and possession of cocaine.

He pleaded guilty to reduced charges and was sentenced to six months in jail. He receives $39,512 in disability payments annually, tax-free. Dougherty, 43, did not respond to Newsday's request for an interview, according to his brother Michael Dougherty, because he is trying to put that part of his life behind him.