Four people were indicted yesterday on charges they schemed to pocket pork-barrel grants from a state senator close to two of the suspects and later covered it up. Two officials with The Parent Workshop Inc., president Patricia Savage and treasurer Lynn H. Smith, were accused of grand larceny and filing false documents to get $29,950 from the nonprofit organization for work they never did teaching parents how to navigate the New York City school system.
Senator Shirley Huntley, a Queens Democrat who founded the nonprofit in 2006, was not charged in the ongoing joint investigation by Attorney General Eric Schneiderman and Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli. They said Ms. Savage, 49, is also on the senator’s staff, while Ms. Smith, 54, shares a residence with her. Ms. Huntley did not immediately reply to requests for comment. Attorney Howard Birnbach, who represents Ms. Smith, said she is an attorney with no record of any wrongdoing. “I believe the evidence is going to demonstrate that she advanced monies for corporate cause and was simply reimbursed,” he said.
