Former Brooklyn Assemblywoman Pleads Guilty To Fraud

BROOKLYN, NY — A former Brooklyn Assemblywoman pleaded guilty Tuesday to pocketing nearly $60,000 in public funds meant to go to a non-profit for children and Hurricane Sandy relief, federal prosecutors said.

Pamela Harris, who represented South Brooklyn neighborhoods such as Coney Island, admitted to using the money to pay for vacations and purchases at Victoria's Secret then coercing witnesses to lie to federal investigators about her scheme.

"Elected by the people of her district to serve with honesty and integrity, Pamela Harris defrauded government programs out of tens of thousands of dollars, using the money for her personal benefit," U.S. Attorney Richard Donoghue said in a statement.

"The defendant’s guilty plea today clearly demonstrates that elected officials are not above the law and will be held responsible for their crimes."

Harris, 57, won a special election for her state Assembly seat in 2015 and served her post until she resigned in April after her fraud indictment. Prosecutors said she started her scheme in 2012 and kept it up even while in office.

From 2012 to 2014, Harris told FEMA that her Coney Island home was damaged in Sandy and she needed assistance to rent a temporary place in Staten Island, prosecutors said.

However, Harris continued to live in Coney Island but submitted bogus rent receipts for the Staten Island place to pocket $25,000, which she used to pay for clothes, vacations and her mortgage, authorities said.

Harris later used her position as an executive director of a non-profit to bilk the City Council out of $22,800 from 2014 to 2015 to rent a studio space for the organization, prosecutors said.

She submitted a fake lease agreement for the space, but instead put the funds in her personal bank account, officials said. She kept up the scheme when she was elected to the Assembly and pocketed another $22,800.

After the FBI started an investigation into her fraud, Harris pressured witnesses to lie to agents, prosecutors said.

Authorities slapped Harris with a 11-count indictment for fraud in January and she resigned from her post in April, before the trial began.

She pleaded guilty to two counts of wire fraud, one count of making false statements to FEMA and one count of witness tampering to federal authorities on Tuesday.

Harris faces up to 30 years behind bars for the false statements charge and up to 20 years for the others, prosecutors said.

Image: Pamela Harris is seen in a January 2016 video after taking office in the state Assembly. Image from nyassembly.gov