Ex-state Sen. Shirley Huntley pleaded guilty yesterday to another felony charge — this one for trying to cover up her role in steering nearly $30,000 in state-taxpayer money to her niece and aides.
The Queens Democrat pleaded guilty in Nassau County Supreme Court to obstructing an investigation into her efforts to funnel $29,950 to a sham nonprofit she set up. Prosecutors alleged the funding was stolen by her cronies.
Huntley admitted creating a phony, backdated letter to try to fool investigators into believing Parent Workshop Inc. had actually conducted workshops.
“In or around March 2011, I assisted … [Workshop president] Patricia Savage by drafting a letter to be used to create a false record indicating that events on behalf of the Parent Workshop had taken place at the (Queens) Beacon Center,” Huntley said in court yesterday. “I understood that the false record would be submitted by Patricia Savage in response to a subpoena issued as part of the attorney general’s investigation of Parent Workshop.”
Huntley pleaded guilty last month to federal charges that she embezzled $87,700 in taxpayer money from another nonprofit group founded by her daughter. The former lawmaker admitted using that money for shopping sprees.