Federal prosecutors piled more criminal charges on former Bronx State Senator Pedro Espada, Jr. and his son, Pedro Gaultier Espada, last night.
The two were charged with using a for-profit janitorial services company to bilk money from Espada’s nonprofit Soundview Healthcare Network. Father and son already are facing charges of the embezzling money from the health care clinics that Espada founded in 1978.
Both have pleaded not guilty to the previous charges and will be arraigned on the new charges, January 25, 2012. For the past several months, Espada and his supporters have been fighting the government’s efforts to deny Soundview from receiving Medicaid funding, its primary source of income. Espada was ousted from his seat in the Bronx’s 33rd District in 2010 by Gustavo Rivera.
The investigation remains ongoing.
All charges are merely accusations and all defendants are presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.
Anyone with information related to this incident is asked to call the NYPD‘s Crime Stoppers hotline at 1–800–577–TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 1–888–57–PISTA (74782). The public can also submit their tips by logging onto the Crime Stoppers‘ website or by texting their tips to 274637 (CRIMES) then enter TIP577.
All tips will be kept strictly confidential.
