The Leader
After a technical error that led a judge to dismiss a sweeping indictment in a Steuben County sex trafficking case, a new set of charges was announced Tuesday against four men, one of them a sitting county legislator.
The new indictment, which was handed up by a Steuben County grand jury, includes nearly two dozen more counts than the original 54 counts compared to the original 32 and includes felony counts of enterprise corruption, sex trafficking and promoting prostitution.
Steuben County District Attorney Brooks Baker said the following defendants are charged in the case:
Larry Comfort Sr., one of two brothers linked to the 1980 shooting death of a New York State Police investigator
Elmira Star-Gazette
Steuben County’s District Attorney says this is “not the type of case we expect” in this community. The names of two known community figures with starkly different backgrounds emerge at the center of it: A notorious criminal, Larry Comfort Sr., who was linked to a state police investigator’s fatal shooting, and a sitting county legislator, Steven P. Maio.
Few specifics have been revealed publicly about how the sex trafficking operated or how many alleged victims it involved. But the 34-count criminal indictment alleges five men are linked together by a set of felony charges that entail drugs, witness intimidation, profiting from prostitution and enterprise corruption.
Elmira Star-Gazette
A sitting Steuben County legislator, along with an Elmira Heights man involved in the fatal 1980 shooting of a New York State Police investigator are among five men indicted for their alleged roles in a sex trafficking ring.
New York State Police initially received a tip about the sex trafficking ring and spent hundreds of hours performing surveillance and conducting witness interviews to put together evidence for a grand jury, according to Steuben County District Attorney Brooks Baker.
The investigation remains ongoing.
Sex trafficking indictment: Who is accused
The 34-count indictment includes charges against Larry J. Comfort Sr. and Larry J. Comfort Jr., both of Elmira Heights, Jonathan F. Hamilton of Elmira, Michael L. Stratton from the Town of Corning, and Steven P. Maio of Corning. It accuses them of multiple felonies involving allegations of sex trafficking and other crimes in Steuben and Chemung counties.