Farmingville Fire District Commissioner Edward Stewart III, at the center of an alleged cover-up suit, does not live in district as required by law

A Farmingville fire commissioner who is at the center of a lawsuit filed by the daughter of a woman allegedly hit by an SUV in the agency’s parking lot last year does not live in the district as required by state law, Town of Brookhaven property tax records show.

Farmingville Fire District Commissioner Edward Stewart III instead has claimed volunteer firefighter exemptions for his home in the Holtsville Fire District since the 2018-19 tax year, the Brookhaven records show. Volunteer firefighters are eligible for a property tax exemption under New York State law, but the exemption only applies to their primary residence.

State law requires fire commissioners to live in the districts they serve from the time of their election or appointment through the duration of their terms. Although Stewart identified the Holtsville home as his residence on Brookhaven property tax records, he listed a home on Pinedale Avenue in Farmingville as his residence on a nominating petition before his December 2024 election as commissioner. His term expires in December.

Stewart is listed in the tax documents as an owner of a home on Express Drive South in Holtsville, along with a Heather Stewart. The taxes on the property for 2026 are $6,632.62, the records show. The volunteer fire exemption is valued at $774.18. Edward Stewart does not receive a salary for his work with the fire district. He is identified as an employee of the Suffolk County Department of Public Works in court papers. 

The owner of the Farmingville home listed in property records is Lucrezia Stewart, the fire commissioner's deceased grandmother.

Stewart and other Farmingville fire officials did not return requests for comment. A woman at the Holtsville residence said Stewart did not live there when Newsday visited the home. Nobody answered the door at the Farmingville home when Newsday visited, or responded to a request for a return telephone call. 

A man at the Farmingville firehouse said Stewart and other officials were not at the building when Newsday visited. He said he would pass along a request to comment to the agency's chiefs and commissioners. None of the officials responded.

Stewart's Holtsville home is also listed as his residence in Suffolk County court documents stemming from his 2025 arrest on charges of forcible touching.

According to Suffolk County court documents, Stewart was arrested on June 14, 2025, and charged with forcible touching. Stewart’s arrest stems from a Nov. 28, 2024, incident at his Holtsville home, when he allegedly grabbed a woman’s breasts.

Stewart’s attorney, Daniel Russo, of Westhampton Beach, told Newsday that the office of Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney conducted an "extensive investigation" into the forcible touching allegation before agreeing to adjournment in contemplation of dismissal. The case will be sealed and the charges dropped in April 2027 if Stewart avoids criminal trouble and does not contact the complainant. 

"I would say he was found not guilty," Russo said. "There's no admissions, there is no conviction. It ultimately goes away."

Stewart is named as a defendant in a lawsuit filed earlier this month by the estate of a now-deceased Medford woman who was allegedly hit by an SUV in the parking lot of the Farmingville Fire Department last year. The complaint said fire department officials altered surveillance video of the incident to shield the department and the driver, allegedly a high-ranking Farmingville official, from accountability.

Attorney Charles S. Gucciardo, of Mineola, who represents the estate of Theresa Vazquez, said Farmingville officials also falsely claimed that Vazquez tripped while trying to avoid the SUV. Vazquez, a part-time supermarket employee, suffered serious injuries and spent several months in a rehabilitation center after the incident. She died of cancer at age 75, six months after she was injured.

Security video from the Farmingville firehouse, which Gucciardo submitted to the court and shared with Newsday, is choppy and appears to freeze at various points, including a four-minute gap.

In addition to Stewart, the lawsuit names the Farmingville Fire District and several high-ranking officials as defendants. Suffolk police and individual officers, accused of parroting the fire department’s claims that Vazquez tripped in official reports and of failing to properly investigate the incident, also are named as defendants. The Suffolk Department of Public Works, which the lawsuit said owned the SUV, also is a defendant.