William F. Boyland, Jr. | |
|---|---|
| Member of the New York State Assembly from the 55th district | |
| In office 2003 –March 6, 2014 | |
| Preceded by | William F. Boyland |
| Succeeded by | Latrice Walker |
| Personal details | |
| Born | September 9,1970 |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Residence(s) | Brooklyn,New York,U.S. |
Prior to his election to the assembly,Boyland served as an intern in the offices of several United States Congressmen,including those of fellow Brooklynites Edolphus Towns and Major Owens.[ citation needed ]
Boyland comes from a family of Brooklyn politicians. His sister,Tracy L. Boyland,was the Chairwoman of the Women's Issues Committee on the New York City Council.[ citation needed ] His uncle,Thomas S. Boyland,was a member of the Assembly from 1977 to 1982,and his father,William F. Boyland Sr.,occupied a seat in the New York State Assembly for two decades. Boyland's father stepped down from the Assembly in the middle of a term,and Boyland sought election to the seat his father vacated. [1] Boyland was first elected to the assembly in a 2003 special election. [2] He represented Assembly District 55 in Brooklyn. [1]
On March 10,2011,Boyland was among eight individuals (including State Senator Carl Kruger) who surrendered to face charges in a federal corruption case accusing the lawmakers of taking bribes over the course of a decade. [3] On November 10,2011,Boyland was acquitted of those charges. [4] Before the end of the month,he was arrested again on separate federal bribery charges,with prosecutors claiming to have secretly recorded him soliciting $250,000 in bribes even while the first set of charges was still unresolved. [5] Boyland's chief of staff,Ry-Ann Hermon,was also arrested on related charges, [6] and eventually pleaded guilty. [7] On March 8,2013,Boyland was charged with three additional counts of mail fraud for falsely securing tens of thousands of dollars in travel reimbursements. [7] [8] Several weeks later,another fraud charge was added for steering taxpayer money to a nonprofit agency and directing that agency to reimburse him for other expenses. [9] On May 14,2013,Boyland pleaded not guilty. [10]
On March 6,2014,Boyland was convicted of all 21 felony counts he faced,including extortion,bribery,and mail fraud (Eastern District of New York,docket no. 11-CR-850). [11] [12] [13] Upon conviction,Boyland immediately lost his seat in the Assembly. [11] [12] In September 2015,he was sentenced to 14 years in federal prison;the sentence "fell short of the minimum of 19 years sought by prosecutors but exceeded many of the prison terms imposed on other state lawmakers in a string of Albany corruption cases.". [1] As of August 2016,he was serving his sentence at the Federal Correctional Institution,Loretto,a low-security federal prison in Western Pennsylvania. [14] [15] On December 12,2024,Boyland's sentence was commuted by President Joe Biden along with nearly 1500 other individuals that were released under the CARES Act,which allowed people with a high risk of COVID-19 to be released into home detention. [16]