New York State Senator Gets Five Years in Prison

Tax fraud and looting health clinics

A former New York state senator who was accused of looting health clinics to pay for extravagances including pony rides and who pleaded guilty to tax fraud charges has been sentenced to five years in prison.

Pedro Espada Jr. was sentenced Friday in Brooklyn.

The once-influential Democrat also was convicted in a separate case alleging he looted the taxpayer-subsidized clinics.

Espada operated the clinics in the South Bronx for three decades until prosecutors accused him of turning the network into a personal ATM.