Free Republic

Federal investigators have charged state Assemblyman Brian McLaughlin (D-Flushing) with stealing more than $2 million from local unions, not-for-profits, his campaign committee and a local Little League, according to an 186-page indictment filed by the U.S. Attorney's office. The embattled state assemblyman, whose offices were raided by the FBI earlier this year, was arraigned in Manhattan federal court Tuesday on 44 counts ranging from racketeering, money laundering, conspiracy and fraud after he turned himself in earlier that morning. Investigators accuse McLaughlin of stealing money for his own use from local several organizations so he could buy a car, renovate his...

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) _ A top aide to state Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver pleaded innocent Thursday to charges he raped a 22-year-old employee of a Democratic assemblywoman. Michael Boxley, on unpaid leave as Silver's $130,395-a-year counsel since shortly after his arrest in June, entered his pleas through his lawyer during a five-minute appearance in an Albany courthouse before state Supreme Court Justice Thomas Keegan. No trial date was set. Boxley remains free on $25,000 bail. Boxley, 43, was indicted Aug. 1 by an Albany County grand jury on two counts each of first- and third-degree rape stemming from incidents during...

<p>The silence up at the state capital over the arrest on rape charges of Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver's chief counsel is troubling, though predictable.</p> <p>J. Michael Boxley, arguably Silver's most powerful staffer, is charged with raping a 22-year-old Assembly aide Tuesday morning after he agreed to drive her home from a night out in Albany bars.</p>