The Westchester County District Attorney’s Office has referred the investigation into the Board of Legislators (BOL) regarding their handling of a child sex crime accusation to an outside prosecutor. This comes after the DA learned that a senior member of that office knew of these allegations last year and failed to notify her.
The accusation against Anand
In December 2022, an amateur “To Catch a Predator” Youtube channel conducted an undercover sting operation on BOL legislative aide, Anand Singh. Using a decoy, they lured Singh to a meeting where he believed he would engage in sexual acts with a minor. Almost immediately, viewers of this sting operation notified the BOL of their employee’s alleged crimes.
It seems that no disciplinary action was taken against Singh until his termination when the fully-produced Youtube video was released in April. In the coming days, The Yonkers Ledger uncovered evidence and testimonies that numerous legislators and staffers long knew of these allegations, including Singh’s boss-Chairwoman Catherine Borgia. Borgia’s subsequent resignation as Chair came just minutes before the BOL intended to vote her out over this incident. Then only days later, Anand Singh was indicted on a federal felony charge of attempted enticement of a minor.
The investigation of the Board
Beyond the political fallout from this scandal, the Westchester DA, Mimi Rocah, announced that her office would investigate the BOL over their apparent lack of action. In an April 18th letter to the BOL from the DA, she requested “all data, materials, notes, information and communications” on this matter.
However, the DA has now chosen to refer this investigation to another prosecutor’s office. At the onset of the DA’s investigation, they discovered that a senior member of their own staff had been given notice of the allegations against Anand Singh. Staring in December 2022, this DA staffer had received numerous correspondences from multiple members in Westchester government on Singh’s alleged crimes. However, the staff member did not disclose this information to District Attorney Rocah.
An individual outside of government sent The Yonkers Ledger the June 5th letter to the Westchester County Law Department which discloses the DA’s conflict of interest. It does not disclose the name of the senior staffer nor the new investigative agency. The DA reminds the County that requests for information are still valid and the investigation will continue.
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