Westchester County
Legislator Chair Catherine Borgia is calling on the FBI to look into
allegations that a county government aide solicited sex from who he thought was
a 14-year-old, according to a letter sent to the U.S. Attorney's Office.
"Allegations
surrounding Mr. Singh's soliciting an underage girl became apparent when a
video surfaced on YouTube that shows Mr. Singh contacted what he believed was
an underage girl," wrote Borgia in the letter to the U.S. Attorney's
Office on Tuesday.
OBL Global, a group that
produces videos it says exposes child predators, was behind this video and set
up the sting operation, including using a decoy underage girl.
The 31-minute video posted to YouTube on April 12 appears to show former county
government aide Anand Singh, who was named in Borgia's letter as the staffer in
question, sending lewd texts and pictures to the decoy. It also shows Singh
driving from New York to New Jersey to meet the decoy and the creator of the
video confronting Singh.
"When it was
brought to my attention that the Board received the first email about the
employee’s actions, I immediately referred it to the Westchester County
Department of Public Safety. As a mother of daughters, I took this matter very
seriously. At the time, Public Safety was unable to substantiate the claim that
a video existed. While the video investigation was occurring, the employee was
removed from public-facing duties. When the April 13 video was released, I
immediately terminated the employee-that day," said Borgia in a pre-taped
video statement sent out Tuesday evening.
The U.S. Attorney's
Office declined to comment on the matter, but the Westchester District
Attorney's Office is aware of the allegations.
"The District
Attorney became aware on Friday, April 14, 2023, of an allegation of criminal
conduct involving a Westchester County Board of Legislators employee and immediately
began looking into the matter. There will be no further comment at this
time," wrote a spokesperson for Westchester District Attorney Mimi Rocah.
Questions swirling about
just how long lawmakers knew about the allegations against Singh.
Borgia said she
immediately referred the allegations to the Westchester County Department of
Public Safety once she was made aware of them but did not give a date.
According to Borgia,
Singh was fired last Thursday night after the video was released on Wednesday,
April 12.
County Legislator
James Nolan released a statement saying he was made aware of the situation last
Thursday night after the staffer was fired.
County Legislature
Majority Leader Christopher Johnson said, "I became aware of these
allegations only 30 minutes before the staffer in question was terminated from
employment."
The board met on Monday night,
but the incident was not brought up.
The board meets next on
May 1 at 7 p.m.