New York Assemblyman Stevenson Charged With Taking Bribes

New York State Assemblyman Eric Stevenson was charged with taking bribes in exchange for proposing a bill to limit the opening of adult day-care centers, the second scandal involving state legislators unveiled this week.

Stevenson, a Democrat who was elected in November to his second term as an assemblyman from the Bronx in New York City, was arrested and charged with five counts of conspiracy, bribery and fraud in a complaint unsealed today in federal court in Manhattan.

Another unidentified assemblyman from the Bronx has been cooperating with federal authorities, according to the complaint. He has agreed to resign from the Assembly and the indictment against him will be dismissed, prosecutors said in the complaint.

Nelson Castro, a New York assemblyman and Democrat from the Bronx, will release a statement today, Angelica Pascacio, his chief of staff, said in a phone interview. She said she didn’t have the specifics of the statement, including whether it will be a resignation.

Charged along with Stevenson are four people who planned to open two adult day-care centers in the Bronx districts represented by the assemblymen. They gave Stevenson cash on several occasions in exchange for a legislative proposal that would create a moratorium on the opening of new centers, thus reducing competition for the defendants, the U.S. said.

On April 2, New York State Senator Malcolm Smith, a Democrat from Queens, New York, was among six people charged in a bribery scheme designed to win for him a nomination for mayor of New York City.

The case is U.S. v. Stevenson, 13-00873, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York (Manhattan).

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