ROSSIE — Town Justice Philip J. Gentile has been officially reprimanded by the New York State Commission on Judicial Conduct for holding alleged private conversations involving court cases, reportedly making public allegations about the personal life of another local judge, and allegedly using profanity in court. 

A June 12 press release from the Commission on Judicial Conduct states that the Rossie town justice should be censured “for initiating unauthorized ex party communications, making injudicious and at times profane statements, and baselessly insinuating that a town justice in a different court had been involved in an affair.” 

Justice Gentile reportedly agreed to the censure. 

The press release states that at various times between Nov. 2022 to March 2024 Judge Gentile spoke privately with a prosecutor about an assault case and did not disclose that conversation to the case’s defense; “denied a defense motion to modify an order of protection after calling and talking about the matter privately with a local school official,” and uttered profanities in court. 

Justice Gentile also reportedly “gratuitously and without evidence” said that a town official and judge in another community were engaged in an affair similar to characters in the movie “Body Heat,” were “boyfriends and girlfriends,” and “were tight.”

Judicial Conduct Commission Administrator Robert H. Tembeckjian said that “it undermines the judicial obligation to be fair and impartial when a judge bases decisions on outside conversations.” He also said that it does not “enhance the integrity of the court for a judge to utter profanities on the bench or spread baseless gossip about other judges or public officials. 

The judge has reportedly “acknowledged that his conduct was improper and warrants public discipline.”

Justice Gentile first took office in 2018. His current term will expire Dec. 31 of this year.