Democratic New York State Sen. Pedro Espada Jr. became emotional in a Brooklyn courtroom yesterday when his former secretary testified that Espada robbed a state-funded nonprofit charity to pay for his wife’s lavish birthday party.
Espada is on trial with his son, Pedro Gautier, for embezzling more than $500,000 from a cleaning company and clinic they ran.
The New York Post reports on the testimony:
Despite her still-warm feelings, [former secretary Norma] Ortiz, 67, provided damning testimony against her former boss, including revelations that on April 17, 2008, Espada’s wife, Connie, received a $522.95 spa-treatment gift card paid with the American Express card of Soundview Health Care Network, the Espada-controlled and taxpayer-funded nonprofit.
On the card, the former Senate majority leader lovingly wrote, "Happy birthday, my sweetheart. Love you always and forever."
"I made the [spa] reservation," Ortiz said. …
Espada also ran up a $959.32 charge at Zales jewelers to pay for a silver watch as a present for Connie, charged another $1,979 for the birthday party that night at the Harbor Restaurant on City Island, and ordered a dozen peach-colored roses in a vase delivered to the Espada residence that morning at a cost of $76.
Ortiz testified that all these charges were paid for with a Soundview credit card or check.