A former New York State Parole Board commissioner was given the boot after objecting to the discharge of a convicted killer who allegedly vowed to torture and homicide her in a racist tirade after she voted to maintain him behind bars, she advised The Publish.
Tyece Drake stated she repeatedly warned state officers about threats allegedly made by assassin Matthew Svanberg, 53, earlier than he was granted parole in 2024.
Svanberg spent 25 years behind bars for fatally capturing 26-year-old gasoline station attendant Dennis People within the face throughout a theft at a Lengthy Island service station in 1993.
Svanberg, who was 20 on the time, fled to Las Vegas after the homicide and evaded seize for 5 years till he was nabbed by police and extradited to New York.
The inmate flew right into a rage when Drake, 53, denied him parole in 2023, in response to a letter obtained by The Publish a fellow inmate despatched to the state Parole Board the next 12 months.
“He when (sic) on a racist rant about how he’ll kill that ‘Black B—h Drake, that Fucking N—-r B—h,’ if he ever will get his change (sic),” in response to the letter from an inmate in jail with Svanberg at Woodbourne Correctional Facility in Sullivan County.
“‘How dare that f—–g black b—h assume that she is above a white man like me,’” the letter stated. “‘She is beneath us. How dare she will get above her station.’”
Svanberg stated that at some point, “He’ll train her to respect a white man like him. That when she beg (sic) for her life, he’ll torture her then kill her,” in response to the letter.
Svanberg was “extraordinarily indignant” at Drake and “he felt that she was emotionally torturing him,” in response to the letter.
Drake, a psychological well being skilled appointed to the parole board in 2017, stated she took her accountability to guard the general public significantly.
“He was indignant as a result of I requested him so many questions,” stated Drake, one in every of three board members who interviewed Svanberg. “It’s a homicide case. I’ve to be thorough in order that I’m certain that if I’m releasing somebody that the general public goes to be secure.”
Through the listening to, Svanberg didn’t appear to be taking accountability for his sufferer’s demise, and he bragged concerning the killing whereas he was on the run, Drake stated.
Drake wrote the choice denying Svanberg parole, however he appealed in a Dutchess County Courtroom and gained a brand new listening to after a choose determined the killer couldn’t be denied parole primarily based on the seriousness of his crime.
At Svanberg’s second parole listening to, far-left board member Tana Agostini was on the panel, and was amongst three board members who interviewed him. Agostini was the lead interviewer on the case and wrote the choice to launch him, citing the choose’s courtroom choice.
Agostini was a pro-inmate commissioner who married a felon she helped to get out of jail earlier than she was appointed to the board by then-Gov. Cuomo. She has since been changed, and didn’t return a name searching for remark.
Svanberg was launched in Might 2024.
“I’ve been afraid for my life for 2 years,” Drake advised The Publish. “After I complained, I used to be fired. It has impacted me psychologically.”
Drake insisted Svanberg ought to be despatched again to jail as a result of the board didn’t comply with state regulation that requires members to stick to the “deprecate commonplace” and decide whether or not releasing an inmate would reduce the seriousness of their crime and undermine respect for the regulation.
“We now have a parole board being so careless that they’re not following their very own regulation,” stated Drake, who was advised she was being changed in June 2025 after complaining about Svanberg’s launch.
The state Division of Corrections and Group Supervision, which oversees the parole board, stated they investigated the threats towards Drake however couldn’t show it.
“Subsequently, after an intensive investigation, the threats have been decided to be unsubstantiated,” a press release from the company learn.
So far as her employment, the company stated Drake was changed as a result of her appointment time period ended.
“We don’t remark additional on personnel issues,” a spokesperson stated.
Drake fired again that her time period really ended six years earlier than she was changed.
The inmate who wrote the letter said in it that he would deny writing it if he was requested as a result of “I don’t wish to be trying over my shoulder the remainder of my life.”
When investigators questioned him, the convict denied writing the letter as promised, in response to an inner DOCCS electronic mail change between Drake and an investigator on the company’s Workplace of Particular Investigations, supplied to The Publish.
And Svanberg, who resides along with his brother in Wainscott, LI, denied making the threats when he was questioned, in response to the change.
“It ought to be famous that unsubstantiated doesn’t imply it didn’t occur,” the investigator wrote within the electronic mail.
Svanberg was working for his brother’s surf and kayak enterprise within the Hamptons after his launch. A working cellphone quantity for him coudn’t be discovered.
Drake considers herself a “whistleblower” and desires to see change on the parole board.
“I believe management must be eliminated and have individuals in there who know what they’re doing,” she stated.
Drake additionally wish to see Svanberg return to jail.
“If they’ll reverse that call, then they need to reverse it,” she stated. “He bought out illegally.”
