The democratic caucus of the Westchester County Board of Legislators, comprised of 15 members, issued a joint statement calling on BOL Chair Catherine Borgia to resign as Chair. The statement reads, “We, members of the Westchester County Board of Legislators, are asking Chairwoman Catherine Borgia to resign from her position as Chair. While she has been a leader that has guided us through historic and life-changing pieces of legislation, we have lost confidence in her ability to lead this body and the staff that supports it. Government’s job is to protect people and ensure those ideals are clear in our words and actions.”
The statement, issued on April 24, comes as a result of Borgia’s handling of the matter of Anand Singh, a former staffer for the BOL, who got caught in an undercover, underage sex sting in December of 2022. The video of Singh’s interactions with someone that he thought was a 14-year old girl were posted on YouTube April 11. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5kUNpG5HP4s
Borgia and two other county legislators, Colin Smith and Ben Boykin, were made aware of the video, which was livestreamed in december of 2022. Several viewers of the livestream video contacted the BOL when the recognized Singh getting confronted by OBL Global after he traveled 3 hours to meet the 14-year old who he had chatted with, texted nude photos of himself to, and discussed graphic sexual details of what he wanted to do with her.
Borgia issued a statement last week in which she said “When it was brought to my attention that the Board received the first email about the employee’s actions, I immediately referred it to the Westchester County Department of Public Safety. At the time, Public Safety was unable to substantiate the claim that a video existed. While the video investigation was occurring, the employee was removed from public facing duties. When the April 13 video was released, I immediately terminated the employee-that day.”
But Borgia’s explanation was not enough for many of the legislators, who were not made aware of the video or its contents until April 13.
What happened to the County Police investigation into the allegations against Singh after Borgia referred it to them has not been clear, and the County Police have yet to release an official statement.
But The Yonkers Ledger released a story on April 24, which states that Westchester County Police Commissioner Terrance Raynor told Borgia to fire Singh, even though he was unable to corroborate the claims or find the video, which disappeared on YouTube for three months.
Borgia, who has control and authority over BOL personnel, kept Singh on the job until April 13. The Yonkers Ledger also named Borgia’s Chief of Staff, Melanie Montalto, as the person who recommended Singh’s hiring. https://www.theyonkersledger.com/news/police-advice-to-legislators-chair-borgia-on-accused-sex-predator-fire-him/3258/
All of these facts led to the lack of confidence voted against Borgia by her democratic colleagues on the BOL. No word on Borgia’s decision, as the FBI and Westchester DA Mimi Rocah conduct their investigation.
And Anand Singh has yet to be charged with a crime.
