New York Assembly aide charged with sexually abusing teenager
Joseph Brady, an aide to Brooklyn Assemblyman Peter J. Abbate, charged with felony sexual abuse
sauce: https://www.timesunion.com/news/article/New-York-Assembly-aide-charged-with-sexually-15673881.php
Oct. 25, 2020
Updated: Oct. 25, 2020 4:27 p.m.
WATERVLIET — The longtime legislative director for state Assemblyman Peter J. Abbate, Jr., was arrested over the weekend on charges of sexually abusing an 18-year-old girl at his Third Avenue residence, where police said they recovered drugs and what appeared to be bomb-making materials.
Joseph P. Brady, 40, who law enforcement sources said is associated with a motorcycle gang that has ties to the Hells Angels, is accused of sexually assaulting the woman after her 16-year-old boyfriend, who was also staying with Brady, briefly left the residence.
Brady is paid more than $118,000 a year as Abbate's legislative director. Abbate, a 71-year-old Brooklyn Democrat, has been a state legislator since 1986 and chairs the Assembly's Governmental Employees Committee.
Abbate could not immediately be reached for comment on Sunday afternoon.
Law enforcement sources said Brady had allegedly sent the teenage boy and another person to a nearby motel on Saturday to purchase more drugs; while they were on that errand, Brady allegedly assaulted the 18-year-old woman.
The 16-year-old boy returned to the residence on Saturday and found his girlfriend disheveled and disoriented. She had been moved from a couch to a bedroom and showed signs of having been sexually assaulted. As the teeangers fled the residence, Brady allegedly confronted them in an alley outside where he displayed what appeared to be a firearm. The teenagers ran to a nearby residence to summon help.
FBI agents and State Police assisted Watervliet police in a court-authorized search of Brady's residence overnight Saturday. No firearms were recovered, and it's unclear whether federal authorities will pursue any charges related to the materials that authorities suspect were being assembled to make explosives or fireworks.
“Upon receiving this concerning information our agency promptly acted by coordinating with various specialized entities to ensure any threat to the public was minimal," said Watervliet police Lt. Brian Strock, the department's acting chief.
A law enforcement official briefed on the case said Brady has been on a law enforcement "watch list," and was questioned last year by State Police investigators in connection with the January 2019 disappearance of Michael P. Ahern, a 42-year-old Stillwater resident and member of the Rolling Pride motorcycle club. Saratoga County sheriff's officials last year said Ahern was last seen on Jan. 6, 2019. He had lived at the club’s headquarters on Brickyard Road in Stillwater.
Law enforcement officials said they suspect Ahern, who has not been found, is a homicide victim.
Brady was charged with felony sexual abuse and misdemeanor counts of unlawfully dealing with a child, unlawful imprisonment and endangering the welfare of a child. He was being held at Albany County jail Sunday on $50,000 bail.
Brady's business dealings with the state of New York are the subject of an unrelated investigation by the state comptroller's office. He has formed several limited liability companies, according to public records, that include Excelsior Waste & Recycling and Excelsior Construction Management.
Brady, who has been a mixed martial arts fighter in years past, has a criminal history that includes a 2019 arrest in Ohio for drug possession and carrying a concealed weapon.