Buffalo, NY (WBEN) Former State Senator Marc Panepinto has agreed to pay $10,000 to resolve a JCOPE investigation into sexual harassment of a staffer and trying to block the JCOPE investigation.
Panepinto admitted to making unwanted verbal and physical sexual advances to a female staffer and then offering her money or future employment if she refused to cooperate with JCOPE's subsequent investigation into the allegations regarding that misconduct. In that 2016 incident, Panepinto and the staff member traveled together to New York City to attend a fundraiser for Panepinto. Following the event, the staff member took possession of the donations from the fundraiser. Later that evening, Panepinto suggested that he and the staff member go to her hotel room to count the donations together. While in the staff member's hotel room, Panepinto made a series of unwanted, verbal, and physical sexual advances which were rebuffed by the staff member.
The Legislative Ethics Commission referred Panepinto's improper sexual conduct to JCOPE after it was provided with an internal investigation report by the state Senate following the staffer's resignation from Panepinto's office.
His admissions were based on facts he acknowledged in his guilty plea in 2018 to federal criminal charges. He was sentenced to two months in prison.
