Former Erie County Democratic Party Chairman, Steve Pigeon turned himself into New York State Police on Thursday in the Town of Clarence before being transported to Downtown Buffalo to face charges related to an incident back in 2016.
At Pigeon's court arraignment, Judge Christopher Burns announced that the 61-year-old is facing a six-count indictment, including charges of sexual assault and rape. Pigeon appeared in court wearing an orange jump suit, while attorneys argued over the potential for bail. However, Pigeon was remanded and is being held without bail.
Here are the charges Pigeon is facing from Thursday's arraignment:
- Two counts of Predatory Sexual Assault Against a Child (Class "A-II" felonies)
- One count of Rape in the First Degree (Class "B" felony)
- One count of Criminal Sexual Act in the First Degree (Class "B" felony)
- One count of Sexual Abuse in the First Degree (Class "D" felony)
- One count of Endangering the Welfare of a Child (Class "A" misdemeanor)
These charges against Pigeon relate to a single incident that occurred some time between Thanksgiving and Christmas of 2016.
The two counts of Predatory Sexual Assault Against A Child stem from two different acts that allegedly occurred that evening. The counts are both considered Class "A-II" felonies due to the fact the victim was under the age of 13 and the perpetrator was over the age of 18. Those charges carry life imprisonment, if proven guilty.
As for the one count of rape and one county of Criminal Sexual Act, they are both in the first degree because the victim was under the age of 11.
Following Pigeon's court appearance, Erie County District Attorney John Flynn addressed the media, saying he thinks Pigeon should go to prison for the rest of his life.
"This is big boy stuff. This is rape," exclaimed Flynn in justifying remanding Pigeon without bail. "When we're talking at that level... he needs to be treated like every other defendant who walks through these courthouse doors who is facing life imprisonment."
The next court date for Pigeon has been set for Monday, Dec. 6 at 9:15 a.m. EST. Flynn anticipates the first proceeding to take place will be a bail hearing, where the defense will argue that Pigeon is not a flight risk, has ties to the community and should be released on bail.
"We will argue that, quite frankly, is not true," Flynn said. "We will argue that the defendant doesn't have any ties to the community anymore, that he really has no permanent address. From what we can gather, he's staying down in Florida half the time, he's got a buddy that lives in Niagara Falls, hangs out with him once in a while, and he doesn't have any kind of permanent home in Buffalo."
Flynn also says there is information that Pigeon allegedly went to the home of the victim over the course of the past few months. Pigeon also had a friend of his go to the home of the victim after he suspected something was up.
The matter was only brought to the attention of Flynn a few months ago by the mother of the victim's family lawyer. Flynn would not give any details to the identity of the victim in this case. As Flynn described it, the victim told their mother of what had happened, she then called the family lawyer, and the lawyer then got in contact with Flynn.
"After the lawyer called me, I then gave her to my investigators, gave her to my attorneys and they went from there. My people are the ones who brought in the State Police."
Flynn acknowledged he knows Pigeon, but has had no political or business dealings with him in recent years. He also says his previous legal troubles relating to politics have nothing to do with the indictment unsealed on Thursday.
Pigeon's defense attorney, Justin Ginter, declined to talked when asked for comment following the indictment.
Pigeon, who worked as a political consultant after chairing the county Democratic Party, pleaded guilty in 2018 to bribing a judge in exchange for favors in legal cases between 2012 and 2015.
Two weeks after the bribery plea, he pleaded guilty to making an illegal $25,000 campaign contribution to former Gov. Andrew Cuomo's 2014 re-election campaign.
Sentencing in those cases is pending.
