Assemblyman Joseph Errigo, who last month lost a Republican primary to keep his seat, accepted bribes and introduced legislation to influence a local development project, federal authorities allege.

Errigo, R-Conesus, Livingston County, was criminally charged Wednesday with accepting a bribe and with wire fraud.

Errigo, who is 79 years old, and a lobbyist who is not named in the complaint allegedly accepted $10,500 from an unnamed party, according to a criminal complaint filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Rochester.

Errigo won the 133rd Assembly seat two years ago as a last-minute replacement for fellow Republican William Nojay, who killed himself rather than face a federal indictment for embezzlement.

Errigo, who has served two stints in the Assembly for a total of 12 years, introduced a bill in the Assembly in March to further the aims of the party that paid the bribe, according to an affidavit from FBI Special Agent Daniel Ciavarri.

The bill would have reduced local-government control over some development projects and given more authority to the state Transportation Department, according to the complaint.

The document alleged the scheme was hatched last September by another member of the state Assembly and a registered lobbyist, who then enlisted Errigo as a way to shield the first assemblyman from scrutiny. Neither of those parties is named.

The bill never came up for a vote in the Assembly.

The veteran assemblyman allegedly admitted to FBI agents in May of this year that he accepted the bribe and acknowledged it was wrong, the complaint said.

"Errigo stated that he desired to cooperate with the FBI," the complaint alleges. "In subsequent interviews, Errigo repeated (the) initial admission that he took cash from the bribe payor."

After a brief appearance Wednesday afternoon, Errigo was released on his own recognizance.

Errigo did not immediately respond to a reporter's request for comment left on his cell phone Wednesday afternoon. He did not comment after leaving court.

His attorney, Joseph Damelio, said the criminal case could test the presumption that all citizens should be treated the same when criminally accused, even those who are elected officials. "I can't think of a more poignant test of a justice system," Damelio said.

Damelio said he also intends to look at whether Errigo was mentally and physically healthy at the time of the alleged crimes.

Details of complaint

The criminal complaint alleges that the FBI "surreptitiously" monitored meetings between the lobbyist and Errigo. The lobbyist met Errigo at his Pittsford office in February, and, afterward, the "bribe payor placed an envelope on the front passenger seat" of Errigo's car, the complaint alleges. That envelope allegedly contained $1,500 in cash, one of a number of payments that would be made.

At a news conference after Errigo's appearance, U.S. Attorney James P. Kennedy Jr. and FBI Special Agent Gary Loeffert, who is in charge of the agency's western New York district, declined to offer more details about the project or the identities of the Assembly member and the lobbyist, who are not named in the complaint. The two said the arrests show the importance of pursuing allegations of public corruption.

Replacement for Nojay

The 133rd Assembly District includes all of Livingston County; Pittsford, Wheatland, Rush and Mendon in southern Monroe County, and part of Steuben County.

Errigo, a Rochester native, first joined the Assembly in January 2001 and served until 2010, when he chose not to seek re-election.

In September 2016, Errigo returned to state politics when he agreed to replace Nojay on the Republican line in the general election. Nojay had served in the Assembly from 2013 until his death.

Errigo lost the Republican primary last month to Marjorie Byrnes, but remains on the general-election ballot on third-party lines.

Ironically, Errigo had alleged during the primary campaign that Byrnes had paid political consulting fees to Jason McGuire, a Conservative Party leader who had supported giving her the Conservative endorsement.

Errigo called the payment a bribe. Byrnes and McGuire denied an impropriety.

The bill introduced by Errigo this spring sought to give the state Transportation Department the power to "approve or disapprove of any zoning incentives or bonuses, as approved by a town board pursuant to the town law, for any property which abuts a highway under the jurisdiction of the department."

There was no companion bill introduced in the state Senate, meaning the measure could not have become law even if it had passed the Assembly.

It did not come to vote in the Assembly, and instead was held in the Transportation Committee. The committee is chaired by Assemblyman David Gantt, D-Rochester, but Gantt has been ill and absent from work for months and said Wednesday afternoon he was not familiar with the bill.

In Gantt’s absence, Assemblyman Nick Perry, D-Brooklyn, served as acting chairman of the transportation committee and would have been the one to recommend holding or tabling the legislation when it came up for consideration on June 5. The request to put the matter on the calendar came from Errigo’s office, he said. The timing of that request was not immediately known. The federal complaint states that FBI agents visited Errigo at his home in May, and he allegedly admitted to accepting the bribe.

Perry said he “had no discussions with Joe Errigo about this.” And what’s more: “I do not recall any contacts or efforts to reach me, or speaking to anyone regarding this piece of legislation,” he said, going on to call the matter seemingly “inconsequential.” Perry said he also had not been contacted by investigators about the matter.

That the legislation came from a minority member and had no apparent backing or definitive need, it would have “very procedural, normal for a bill like that to be held.”

Whether the transportation committee was the focus of the alleged bribery effort is unclear. The bill would have had to move through one, if not two other committees, Perry said. As for “Member A” assisting in getting the legislation through a specific committee, as the complaint alleged, Perry said having a member from outside the committee contact the chair to lobby for a bill also is standard.

GCRAIG@Gannett.com

SORR@Gannett.com

Includes reporting by staff writer Brian Sharp.

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