Two days after a New York state Senator was arrested for trying to bribe his way onto the New York City mayoral ballot, a state Assemblyman has been accused of accepting payments to sponsor legislation that would benefit developers of an adult day care center in the Bronx.
Assemblyman Eric Stevenson, a two-term Assemblyman form the Bronx, is accused in the complaint from the U.S. Attorney’s office of accepting thousands of dollars in bribes from developers of a proposed adult day care center. In exchange, he sponsored legislation that would impose a moratorium on new day care centers, in order to give the developers a competitive advantage.
The transactions, at restaurants and hotels, were recorded by a cooperating witness, another Assemblyman already in trouble for allegedly committing multiple felonies. In exchange for his cooperation, the complaint says, the charges would be dropped and the Assemblyman agreed to resign. Some news outlets have identified the Assemblyman as Nelson Castro, also of the Bronx. His office says he’ll have a statement out later today.
The charges bring the number now to over 30 state legislators accused or convicted of varying degrees of wrongdoing in the past decade.
