Saturday, September 12, 2009

Thieves Clean Out Dirty Queens Pol's Office by Murray Weiss and Todd Venezia - NY Post

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Crooked ex-Assemblyman Anthony Seminerio was a crime victim yesterday -- not a perpetrator -- when thieves stole all the business equipment from his shuttered Queens office, cops said.

An administrative assistant for the state Assembly uncovered the break-in at 10 a.m., when he showed up at Seminerio's government-owned office on Jamaica Avenue in Richmond Hill to inspect the place.

The assistant, who had gone to the storefront office to get it ready for Seminerio's future replacement, found it ransacked and the back door kicked in.

Police said that a copy machine, a printing machine, an air conditioner, two computer routers and an air purifier had been stolen.

Seminerio, 74, a 15-term Queens Democrat, moved out last month, after he pleaded guilty to a $1 million influence-peddling scheme in June. He faces up to 14 years behind bars.

Seminerio resigned in June after his guilty plea. He took bribes as far back as 1999, including taking $390,000 last year as a "consulting fee" from Jamaica Hospital to do lobbying for them.