Three women who worked for Assemblyman Dennis Gabryszak, 62, have filed legal papers accusing the married, suburban Buffalo Democrat of sexually harassing them.
Oh, for...really, New York? WTF?
"Assemblyman Dennis Gabryszak is being accused of sexually harassing three now-former legislative staffers, according to court papers filed Thursday.
Gabryszak, D-Cheektowaga, is the subject of three separate complaints by former aides, all in their 20s, who accuse him of making repeated sexually charged comments and suggestions to female staffers and, in the case of one, bringing her to a massage parlor in her first two weeks on the job.
The allegations include claims that Gabryszak told one female staffer he has a tattoo on his penis and that he showered one woman with gifts and offered her a well-paying job in Buffalo after learning that she had become engaged – a revelation that allegedly upset the assemblyman.
Within hours of the allegations surfacing, Gabryszak was already losing key Democratic Party support. “If these allegations are even close to being true, the Assembly member should resign immediately and spare the community from further embarrassment,’’ said Jeremy Zellner, the chairman of the Erie County Democratic Party. "
Gabryszak also sent videos of himself in a bathroom “either receiving or pretending to receive” oral sex, the legal papers allege
(pdf).
The papers were served on the state Attorney General’s office, which represents the state in legal matters, and Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, according to Johnny Destino, the attorney representing the three women.
Besides the three women in Thursday’s court filing, “a minimum of two additional former employees’’ of the lawmaker “will be coming forward in the near future and will be bringing allegations similar to those’’ of the other three women, he said.
Gabryszak was elected to the Assembly in 2006. He previously served as Town Supervisor for the Town of Cheektowaga.
Gabryszak, 60, is married with two adult children.
