A grand jury has again handed up a criminal charge against Robert Wiesner, the husband of Monroe County Executive Maggie Brooks.
Today, Wiesner was arraigned on a single felony count of combination in restraint of trade and competition, which is legalese for bid-rigging; he pleaded not guilty. The indictment, which will be prosecuted by the State Attorney General’s Office, alleges that Wiesner was part of an effort to rig a Monroe County public safety contract.
Last November, Wiesner was hit with two counts of the same charge in a sweeping indictment that alleged bid-rigging schemes in two county-linked local development corporations: Upstate Telecommunications Corporation and Monroe Safety and Security Systems. He was one of four defendants charged under the indictment.
In August, State Supreme Court Justice Robert Noonan dismissed the original charges against Wiesner, at the request of Wiesner’s attorney, James Nobles. Wiesner was never given the chance to testify before the original grand jury, Nobles said, even though he’d requested to do so. The AG’s office agreed to the request, but asked the judge for permission to present the case to a new grand jury. Noonan allowed a single charge to go forward and dismissed the other.
“I welcome the grand jury’s decision to re-indict Robert Wiesner on a felony charge stemming from the joint investigation my office conducted with Comptroller DiNapoli into allegations of bid-rigging in Monroe County,” Attorney General Eric Schneiderman said in a statement. “We look forward to bringing this matter to trial.”
All four defendants pleaded not guilty when they were charged last year. The cases against the remaining three defendants have been advancing through the courts.
This article appears in Nov 12-18, 2014.
Third time’s the charm!
Sad to learn of this second time indictment. And I would like to know the truth…did Robert have inside information from Maggie to even pull off this alleged crime (s). If so, then I am very disappointed in both of their behaviors.
Money is and can be tempting to all of us because 90% of us in Monroe County do not have any money. We are struggling to put food on the table and pay for car insurance as well as fuel.
If it is indeed a politically motivated action then I am even more disappointed in the sate comptrollers office and the attorney general’s office.
Oh please… you’re “sad?” Republicans love to play the welfare game. They blast people for being “lazy” when they collect $300 a week unemployment which they EARNED by paying taxes for when they did work. When Bob makes $123,000 in salary (TAXPAYERS’ money) as “security” director for the Water Authority and a $62,600 pension from his time at R.P.D. (when he was demoted for disciplinary reasons) and Maggie’s $120,000 a year as county executive, they are grossing over $300,000+ a year. No wonder Maggie’s mantra is “The taxpayers”: She wants to make sure the taxpayers first fund her and her husband’s trips to Florida every year before paying for daycare for poor black kids in the city. When the taxpayers have shelled out over $2 million to these two people over the course of their public “service” “careers”, it should be crystal clear to everyone who the real welfare queens are.
Water Authority Salaries are generated by water bills paid by users of H2O…not taxpayer money.
“Water Authority Salaries are generated by water bills paid by users of H2O…not taxpayer money.”
And the users of H2O are somehow not taxpayers?
Let me be very clear on the aforementioned… your phone bill, RGE, and Monroe County Water Authority bill or any other thing that you choose to use as a service, that has to have revenue which keeps the service going to your home or your need for the water or the phone or whatever. We are all taxpayers in Monroe County but many do not have a Monroe County Water Authority Bill to pay cause they have a water well or another source of water… and then they pay the bill for that service. So all taxpayers do not pay for other people’s water. The MCWA runs on water bill revenue from users that just happen to be taxpayers for other services.
ssssss
Definitely had inside information from his wife. She’s done it before with a former airport director who was exiled to an Ohio airport.