by David Cruz 

In a unanimous decision Assemblyman Eric Stevenson (D-79^th A.D.) was found guilty of accepting bribes in exchange for drafting legislation that would have benefitted owners of two senior day care centers throughout the west Bronx.

“As a unanimous jury swiftly found, Assemblyman Stevenson brazenly betrayed the public that elected him,” said Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara.  “Graft and greed are intolerable in Albany, and we will go to trial as often as we have to until gronment in New York is cleaned up.”

Indeed, political corruption has been the buzz word peppered with reform lately, with Governor Andrew Cuomo intending to root out corruption through several anti-corruption initiatives he highlighted in his State of the State address.

In Stevenson’s case, the pol was videotaped stuffing $10,000 cash into his trousers from outside Jake’s Steakhouse in Riverdale early last year.  Stevenson’s downfall began after the FBI sought the help of former Assemblyman Nelson Castro, who became a legislator mole for the feds after running into legal troubles himself.  For four years, Castro would work for the feds to gather information on possible corruption within the State legislature.  He found it in Stevenson, the scion of a family of Bronx politicians.  Stevenson held the seat in the 79^th Assembly District, representing Morrisania and East Tremont, relatively poverty-stricken portions of the Bronx.

Stevenson was arrested by the feds for accepting $20,000 in bribes to help fast track the opening of two social adult centers in the Bronx – one on Westchester Ave. in Stevenson’s district and another on Jerome Avenue near ex-Assemblyman Nelson Castro’s district.

He was also accused of introducing a bill putting a moratorium on other social centers as a way to create a “local economy.”  Senior day care centers had been popping up all over the Bronx since many do not require a license, yet receive plenty of funding through Managed Long Term Care insurance, often funded through Medicaid.

Throughout 2012, Stevenson met several times with Igor Belyanksy, his brother Rostislav, Igor Tsimerman and David Binman and Sigfredo Gonzalez, a minor Bronx wannabe political figure and executive director of the New Age Social Adult Center.

Gonzalez and former Assemblyman Nelson Castro secretly recorded the alleged conspiracy conversations.

Stevenson stayed as his case was handled by prosecutors and defense attorneys, but following his conviction, his web page on the New York State Assembly’s website was removed, suggesting his tenure as representative is suspended.  Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. reacted to the verdict, saying Stevenson’s conviction caps “an unfortunate chapter in our borough’s history.”

“As I have made crystal clear in the past, our borough and our city require and deserve honest, corruption free government. The public must have faith in its elected leaders, and the deplorable actions of Assembly Member Stevenson should not cast a bad light on all elected officials, most of whom work hard to deliver for their communities and solve the issues that face our neighborhoods,” said Diaz Jr.

The borough has seen its share of political scandal over the years.  Just days before the Stevenson/Castro scandal, prosecutors charged the borough’s Republican Party chairman Joe Savino with corruption.

Stevenson can face up to 55 years in prison once he’s sentenced.