Bruce Wenger, former NYC prosecutor, dies at 49
Published April 11, 2016
NEW YORK (JTA) — Bruce Wenger, a prosecutor who went into private practice as a defense attorney, died suddenly at 49 while commuting to work on a train.
Wenger, of West Hempstead, New York, is believed to have suffered an aneurysm last week while riding the Long Island Rail Road, the Daily News reported. His funeral was April 7 at the Young Israel of West Hempstead, where he was a member with his wife, Sharon.
Wenger worked in the city Special Narcotics Prosecutor’s office from 1997 to 2002 before going into private practice.
“He was very much a mentor to young assistant district attorneys who came here,” Special Narcotics Prosecutor Bridget Brennan told the Daily News. “He had a very strong moral compass.”
As a defense attorney, Wenger served numerous clients whose cases garnered news coverage, including George Freyre, a New Jersey man accused of involvement in a Times Square bomb scare in 2010, and three haredi Orthodox men accused in 2012 of intimidating a witness in the high-profile Nechemya Weberman sexual abuse case.
