EXTORTION CASE SETTLED INVOLVING FORMER SPRING VALLEY HEAD FOOTBALL COACH

DA’S PRESS RELEASE

Rockland County District Attorney Thomas P. Zugibe last week announced the extortion case of Joseph Ruback, 47, of 9 Sylvan Lane, New City has been resolved.

The court has issued an adjournment in contemplation of dismissal, or ACD, which requires the defendant to avoid new arrests for six months, before the dismissal and sealing of his case. According to District Attorney Zugibe, the victim in the case, without the knowledge of the District Attorney’s Office, signed an agreement with Ruback to have the criminal charges dismissed and not proceed with prosecution in exchange for $5,000 restitution and for the defendant to drop a pending civil lawsuit.

Ruback was charged in December, 2015 with one count of grand larceny in the fourth degree, a class “E” felony. He had been accused of illegal loan sharking and harassing victims. Ruback had brought a civil lawsuit against the victim in the case in March 2014, prior to the filing of the criminal charges in December, 2015 for the some of the actions alleged by prosecutors.

While the District Attorney’s Office was not part of the agreement, it was presented to the D.A.’s Office by the victim who demanded the dismissal of the criminal charges against Ruback, allowing him to receive $5,000 in restitution and the dismissal of the civil law suit against him.

The defendant is a former mid-1990s Spring Valley High School football coach and had also gained local notoriety as a New York Giants superfan called “License Plate Guy.”

Ruback has had past run-ins with the law. In 1998 he pleaded guilty to fourth-degree grand larceny and served five months probation, as well as six months community service for stealing $14,000 in merchandise from JC Penny with along with a former player on the Spring Valley HS football team.

Ruback serves as athletic director for the Biondi School in Yonkers.

Ruback is well known enough that the Giants organization released a statement upon his arrest in December 2015.

“We know Joe Ruback as a fan of our team,” the Giants team said. “He does not and has never had a formal or official role with our organization. We are obviously disturbed by these allegations and have made our staff and players aware of them.”