Legislative aide charged with sex abuse is fired from Capitol job

ALBANY — State Assemblyman Peter J. Abbate, Jr., on Monday announced he had terminated his longtime legislative director, Joseph P. Brady, who was arrested over the weekend on charges of sexually abusing an 18-year-old girl at his residence in Watervliet.

Brady, 40, who has been associated with a motorcycle club with 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.

“These are very serious and concerning charges, and the Assembly member has informed the speaker that the individual has been terminated,” said Michael Whyland, a spokesman for Assembly Speaker Carl E. Heastie.

Brady had been paid $108,500 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.

“Upon hearing the news yesterday, I made the decision to terminate Joseph Brady’s position in my office effective immediately,” Abbate said in a statement released Monday. “This disturbing news is a shock and has completely broken the trust I had in my staff member. This behavior is inexcusable and he should be held accountable.”

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 teenagers 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, although authorities discovered materials they suspect were being assembled to make explosives or fireworks.

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.

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 is being held at Albany County jail on $50,000 bail.

Previously, Brady had worked for the administration of former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg as a representative to the 9/11 workers’ task force.

In his work for Abbate’s office, Brady’s professional biography stated that he “crafts and oversees the implementation of ground-breaking labor legislation while also interfacing with several union organizations and dignitaries.”

Make sure you have subscribed to our Facebook page or Twitter to stay tuned!

Source: Times Union