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May 22, 2008 1:43 pm US/Eastern
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N.Y. State Senators: Victims Of A Troublemaker?
Yonkers Police Investigating Incidents Aimed At Sen. Andrea Stewart-Cousins & Other State Senators
YONKERS, N.Y. (CBS) ―
There are new developments on Thursday in the case of a local politician whose office may have been targeted by a troublemaker. Other state senators now say they're being threatened also.
"Nobody on my staff and none of us elected to public office expect to have to duck under their desks," said State Senator Andrea Stewart-Cousins.
Stewart-Cousins says she wasn't going to make a big deal about what she calls recent disconcerting events - the rifling of a desk in her Yonkers' office and the sudden appearance of what look like BB holes in the windows.
But then, local politician learned Senator Shirley Huntley of Queens and Senate Minority Leader Malcolm Smith faced threats as well.
"I myself have had life-threatening letters sent to myself and someone violating my home and trespassing on my property," said Smith.
The elected officiasl fear the incidents are part of a pattern to intimidate tehm - and so they are speaking out, vowing to support legislation to increase penalties for threatening an elected official or members of their staff.
Yonkers police aren't sure what caused the holes in Stewart-Cousins windows and the building owner says similar holes have been in other windows for years.
"If you speak with the people in 400, they've been there for years. 203B, they've also been there for years. I honestly can't say if they're new or if they've been there since the 80's," said building owner Christina Sullivan.
But Stewart-Cousins says her chief of staff was present and heard the noise when something blasted a hole in an office window on April 3.
"We assured that it did not occur accidentally and it certainly was not there before," said Stewart-Cousins.
Yonkers police say they're taking the complaints seriously as they investigate whether these disconcerting events are mere coincidence, or part of some kind of coordinated series of threats.
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