Westchester Lawmakers Fire Aide Caught Up In Sex Sting Scandal

WESTCHESTER, NY — A Westchester County Board of Legislators aide was fired after a group that targets sexual predators released a video that appears to show him texting sexually explicit messages to a phone number he believed at the time belonged to a 14-year-old girl.

In video documenting parts of a weeklong sting, reminiscent of the long-running NBC "To Catch a Predator" show, the group alleged the aide was also caught on tape arriving to meet who he thought was a child after driving three hours to New Jersey.

The group that released the damning video is known as the Predator Catchers Alliance, and bills itself as "committed to exposing every child predator/pedophile on YouTube and putting them behind bars."

Anand Singh was the target of the sting operation video posted on YouTube shortly before he was fired from his job in Westchester County government.

The 31-minute video, released last week, shows text exchanges reportedly between Singh and a female "decoy" posing as a teenager. The video also contains sexually explicit phone conversations the group said were recorded as Singh drove to meet his would-be victim.

The video can be viewed here. Warning: the video is disturbing to watch and contains sexually explicit language.

"As Chair, I am responsible for all staff at the Board," Catherine Borgia, Chair of the Westchester County Board of Legislators said in a statement released on Tuesday. "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. As a mother of daughters, I took this matter very seriously."

Borgia said that while the initial accusations were made several weeks ago, it only became clear in recent days that there was evidence to back up those claims. She says that law enforcement, including federal officials, are investigating the case.

"At the time, Public Safety was unable to substantiate the claim that a video existed," Borgia said. "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. The allegations are very serious and I referred the matter to the FBI, as it involves New York State and New Jersey jurisdictions. I learned the FBI Safe Streets Task Force is investigating."

County Legislator James Nolan condemned the fired aide, describing his actions as "revolting," in a statement released on Tuesday.

"Not only as a father, but as a human being, I am disturbed by the video of former Westchester County Board of Legislators staffer Anand Singh attempting to meet up with who he believed to be a 14 year old girl," Nolan said. "I am committed to protecting our children against revolting predators. I did not learn about this video and this situation until Thursday night; hours after the staffer was fired."