By Juan Soto
State Assemblyman William Scarborough (D-Jamaica) was arrested Wednesday morning by investigators from the office of state Attorney General Eric Schneiderman.
According to report from Associated Press, Scarborough was charged with using campaign money for personal expenses.
AP reported the assemblyman pleaded not guilty in Albany County Court to a 23-count indictment.
The attorney general and state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli were expected to discuss the case at a news conference in Manhattan Wednesday afternoon.
The southeast Queens politician, first elected to office in 1994, was taken into custody Wednesday.
In March, federal agents raided his home and offices.
“They only gave me a very small sample of what they thought represented this, and based on that small sample I think it’s very refutable,” he said at the time after the Federal Bureau of Investigation executed search warrants at his home and offices in the capitol and southeast Queens.
Scarborough’s arrest is the latest in a series of corruption cases involving legislators in Albany and in southeast Queens.
Last year state Sen. Malcolm Smith (D-Hollis) was arrested on bribery charges. He faces a federal retrial in January for allegedly trying to bribe his way onto the Republican line in the 2013 mayoral race.
Also in 2013, former state Sen. Shirley Huntley, who represented Jamaica, was sentenced to 366 days in prison after pleading guilty to mail fraud in an effort to cover up a scheme she used to pocket more than $87,000 from taxpayers.
