Former State Senator Pedro Espada has been found guilt of stealing up to half a million dollars from the now defunct Soundview Health Care Center that he started and ran. Espada now faces up to ten years in jail on each of the four counts of fraud that he was convicted of. The bad news does not stop there, as the judge declared a hung jury on the other four counts so that Espada could be retried on those other four counts of fraud.
Espada's son Pedro G. Espada appears to have dodged a bullet for now as his jury seems to be deadlocked and unable to convict him, but there is always the possibility of a retrial for him also unless the U.S. Attorney is content to have Espada Senior going to jail.
.Pedro G. Espada and father Pedro Espada holding another future candidate Espada in happier times.Governor Andrew Cuomo said that he is happy that the job he started as New York States Attorney General has been completed. Cuomo added that there is no place in New York politics for any type of corruption.
The jurors finished the job that the voters started two years ago. Just as the voters of the 33rd senatorial district punished Pedro Espada, Jr. at the polls for his role in the discredited 2009 coup that shut down the State Senate, the jurors rightly saw Espada for what he is: a crook. His criminal acts give politics a bad name despite the fact that the vast majority of elected officials are decent, hardworking people. He stole from the taxpayers and ultimately from the people he was supposed to help, in order to pay for his lavish lifestyle. Disgusting! I hope he receives the maximum punishment under the law.
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