What a head case
Bribe-pol rat tells jury: I paid for oral sex while undercover
THE wire-wearing snitch who helped the feds nab Bronx state Assemblyman Eric Stevenson admitted Wednesday that he got Xrated with a prostitute while working undercover.
Sigfredo Gonzalez switched off his secret recording device in an Albany hotel room and then lied to the feds about it because he was receiving oral sex from a prostitute, he testified Wednesday in Stevenson’s corruption trial.
Prosecutors are relying on Gonzalez in their case against Stevenson, while the defense has slammed the key witness as a “bad man” who cannot be trusted.
Stevenson, 47, is accused of taking more than $20,000 in cash bribes from Russian-American senior center developers and in return using his position as a lawmaker to help their business.
The developers traveled to Albany last January and had Gonzalez slip Stevenson a bribe, the witness said.
“That weekend, the Russian brought up a prostitute,” said Gonzalez.
“I was with the prostitute in the room and I turned off the recorder and I wasn’t supposed to turn off the recorder,” he testified.
Gonzalez initially lied to his handlers but ultimately spilled the beans and was charged with making false statements the feds. He pleaded guilty.
His admission Wednesday will likely provide fodder for the defense.
But Gonzalez provided plenty of dirt on Stevenson at the Manhattan Federal Court trial Wednesday.
The Bronx Democrat was looking forward to a vacation in sunny Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic in exchange for helping the businessmen, Gonzalez said.
“We always spoke about if everything went well, we would take a trip to Santo Domingo,” the witness told jurors. “The Russian, Eric and myself would take a trip to Santo Domingo. . . . The Russian businessmen would pay for the trip.”
The amigos never made it because they were all arrested last April.
Stevenson, who was reelected in 2012 during the probe, denies he took bribes, but in a tape played Wednesday he demanded cash for an inauguration party.
The pol referred to his bribes as “blessings,” Gonzalez testified.
“I got the inauguration. I want a blessing in place, man,” Stevenson said.
The Stevenson case began in early 2012 after Gonzalez and the developers first tried to bribe another politician, Nelson Castro, who was snitching for prosecutors to clear up his own perjury rap. Castro turned in Gonzalez, who the feds then sicced on Stevenson.