These allegations, if true, raise more questions about Cujdik's relationship with his informants.
A Daily News report last month detailed allegations that Cujdik improperly rented a house to another informant, Ventura Martinez, and lied in search-warrant applications used to enter suspected drug homes.
The newspaper series prompted federal and local authorities to form a special task force to investigate. Cujdik, 34, was placed on desk duty and was forced to return his police-issued weapon.
In an exclusive interview, Martinez said that he paid Cujdik at least $20,000 in rent money that he had earned as an informant working with Cujdik. The Police Department pays informants to make drug buys and for tips leading to gun and drug arrests.
Under police rules, however, officers must maintain a strictly professional relationship with informants. Like the alleged house rental, providing cash to bail out an informant would "cross the line," said a high-ranking police source.
"That would not be ethical," the source said.
Cujdik's attorney, George Bochetto, said that Gorham's mother was lying about the bail and that Cujdik would be "completely vindicated."
"Officer Cujdik is an honest, decorated police officer who has consistently operated by the letter of the law," Bochetto wrote in response to a reporter's questions yesterday.
Tiffany Gorham, 28, became an informant for Cujdik in January 2008, according to a police source. Gorham - known as "CI #371" - was involved in only a few cases, court records show.
On March 8, just two months after she began working with Cujdik, Gorham was arrested for allegedly striking a man with a glass bottle and a metal object, injuring him and stealing $250 and a necklace, court records show.
