ADIOS HIRAM!
Former city & state pol off to prison on felony charge
NOW IT’S OFFICIAL: Hiram Monserrate’s political career is over — he’s headed to prison.
The disgraced former state and city lawmaker pleaded guilty Friday to using City Council grants to fund a failed political campaign. Monserrate, 44, copped to conspiracy and mail fraud charges in exchange for a sentence that could put him behind bars for up to 27 months.
“I take full responsibility for my actions,” the former city cop told Manhattan Federal Court Judge Colleen Mcmahon.
The felony conviction means Monserrate will never be able to run for public office or own a gun. He’ll be sentenced Sept. 14.
Monserrate didn’t have anything to say after the brief federal court hearing. He got into an ele- vator and shrugged. Then he went to the courthouse cafeteria and had a tunafish sandwich.
The former Queens pol admitted using $109,000 in government funds to bankroll his unsuccessful run for the state Senate in 2006. While he was a member of the City Council, Monserrate directed the money to a group in his Queens district, the Latino Initiative for Better Resources and Empowerment, or LIBRE.
A Department of Investigation probe found that LIBRE spent the funds on a petition drive to get Monserrate on the ballot, to register voters on his behalf and to pay employees to work on Monserrate’s campaign.
“As a City Councilmember, Hiram Monserrate was supposed to help deserving community groups by directing city funds to them, not use one of those groups as a front to illegally finance his state Senate campaign,” said Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara. “Sadly, Monserrate took money out of the pockets of needy people to fund his own political career.”
Monserrate was elected to the state Senate in 2008 only to get booted two years later after he was found guilty of a misdemeanor for dragging his girlfriend through an apartment building.
He tried to get the seat back but lost to Jose Peralta.
After his defeat, the feds and DOI began questioning former members of his Senate staff about his dealings with LIBRE.
Police said Monserrate slashed his girlfriend Karla Giraldo’s face with a broken glass after he found another man’s business card in her purse on Dec. 19, 2008. The wound required 20 stitches to close.
A judge sentenced him in December 2009 to three years’ probation and continued an order of protection even though Giraldo said she loved him and the slashing was an accident. The romance resumed after a judge lifted the protection order.