State Assemblyman Vito Lopez, who was accused of groping young female staffers, is not expected to be charged criminally following a months-long investigation, The Post has learned.
Staten Island District Attorney Dan Donovan, who is operating as a special prosecutor, is expected to announce today that his investigation didn’t find enough evidence to charge Lopez, sources told The Post.
The harassment allegations lodged by two Lopez staffers last summer led to the revelation that Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver had quietly authorized a payment of $103,000 in taxpayer funds to settle previous allegations by two other women against Lopez.
The controversy rocked the state’s political hierarchy and sparked an investigation by the state’s Joint Commission on Public Ethics.
In February, the commission issued a scathing 58-page report to the Legislative Ethics Commission and Donovan, who asked the LEC not to release it until his investigation into the allegations was finished.
With Donovan’s probe complete, the LEC is expected to release the report as early as today. The report was so explicit in outlining how Silver’s staff handled the allegations that members of the LEC asked JCOPE to redact it.
Lopez, 71, has maintained he did nothing wrong. He declined to comment last night.
He remains in the Assembly, though he was censured and stripped of his position as head of the Assembly’s Housing Committee. He resigned as Brooklyn’s Democratic Party leader after the settlements surfaced, but is now eyeing a run for City Council.
The news that he won’t be charged could help his campaign, though sources who have seen the JCOPE report say that details of his bad behavior may eclipse the fact that he escaped charges.
Silver, who green-lighted the settlements, has called for the full report to be released.
Lopez may be down and out in Albany, but he’s stillgot a close ally in the mayor’s race.
The tarnished assemblyman still has the tacit support of Democratic candidate Bill Thompson, The Post has learned. The pair are old political allies and Thompson has left the door open for an endorsement.