Two Democratic ex-Nassau County legislators and a former Town of North Hempstead official were sentenced Tuesday for their roles in a $400,000 bribery scheme involving an $80-millioin plan to redevelop New Cassel.
Judge Alan Honorof sentenced 68-year-old ex-lawmaker Roger Corbin of Westbury to two to six years in prison after he was convicted of receiving a bribe and official misconduct. Fellow ex-legislator Patrick Williams, 66, of Uniondale, was sentenced to one year in jail for his conviction on conspiracy charges. And the former executive director of the Town of North Hempstead Community Development Agency, 73-year-old Neville Mullings of Westbury, was sentenced to nine months in jail for his official misconduct and conspiracy convictions.
“These men were entrusted by the community to transform this property into a development that everyone in New Cassel could be proud of,” Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice said. “Instead, they put their personal interests before the community to line their own pockets.”
The trio is slated to surrender to authorities to begin serving their sentences Thursday, but since they are reportedly appealing the convictions, that date could be postponed.
Prosecutors have said the former officials manipulated a 2003 downtown revitalization plan that was the joint vision of the community, town and county to bring a supermarket, bank and new housing into the blighted neighborhood. Ten years after the first request for proposals for the project was released, the parcel still has not been fully developed.
Corbin, who pleaded guilty four years ago to federal tax evasion and lying to investigators, was released from prison in November 2011 for those unrelated charges. Williams had previously pleaded guilty in 2002 to federal conspiracy charges and served six months home detention.
