Hours after Councilman Miguel Martinez admitted being a thief, prosecutors and investigators emphasized their inquiry into City Council slush money was far from over.

Already on their radar screen is Bronx Councilwoman Maria del Carmen Arroyo.

Like Martinez, Arroyo funneled hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars from the slush fund into a nonprofit controlled by relatives.

The relative was her nephew, Richard Izquierdo, and the nonprofit was the South Bronx Community Corp. Last month Izquierdo was arrested for stealing money from an SBCC affiliate.

The charges included using funds from the nonprofit to pay for flights to Puerto Rico and other warm locales for Arroyo and her mother – and Izquierdo’s grandmother – Assemblywoman Carmen Arroyo.

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Despite the Big Apple’s fiscal crisis, City Council members went on a spending spree with taxpayer money last year, snatching up expensive furniture, flashy electronics, wedding invitations and a bizarre order of school supplies.

A Post review of the council’s expense reports at Staples and J&R, where city lawmakers have tax-free business accounts, revealed a slew of unusual purchases for the 10 months from July 2008 through May 2009.

In one of the more peculiar purchases, Councilwoman Maria del Carmen Arroyo (D-Bronx) spent $1,176 on school supplies, including 162 glue sticks, 95 boxes of crayons, 200 rulers and 10 easels.

She bought the goods from Staples at the start of the school year, but her spokeswoman insisted the supplies were kept in the office to occupy the kids of constituents who visit. None of her 50 council colleagues made similar purchases.

She also spent $186 on junk food, like Twizzlers and muffins, and $105 on Tylenol.

“Any item purchased is to help staff with constituents or to serve constituents directly,” said Arroyo’s spokeswoman, Carmen Aquinas.

Another eye-catching buy was made by Councilman Miguel Martinez (D-Manhattan), who spent $511 on packets of wedding invitations, envelopes and accompanying labels.

His staff insisted the cards were sent as thank-you notes to constituents in his district.

Councilman Vincent Gentile (D-Brooklyn) splurged on a $586 swivel chair. By comparison, several of his colleagues who purchased chairs spent less than $200.

Each member is given $277,000 to spend on salaries and the costs of running an office, including rent, maintenance bills and office supplies.

Councilwoman Maria Baez (D-Bronx) bought three cameras during the year: a $379 camcorder and two digital cameras, for $200 and $187.

Most members who bought cameras at all got only one.

Source: NY Post

A member of one of the Bronx’s most powerful political families went on a lavish spending spree with taxpayer money — taking trips to Puerto Rico, dining at fancy restaurants and snapping up designer clothing — with big bucks swiped from a federally funded nonprofit, authorities charged yesterday.

Richard Izquierdo Arroyo — a nephew of City Councilwoman Maria del Carmen Arroyo and grandson of Assemblywoman Carmen Arroyo — and his business partner, Margarita Villegas, were charged with embezzlement.

They stole about $200,000 from the South Bronx Community Corp. from 2005 to this past February, according to the US Attorney’s Office and the Department of Investigation.

In a complaint filed in Manhattan federal court, authorities said the pair squandered funds intended for management of two low-income buildings in the South Bronx on luxuries billed to the nonprofit’s two American Express cards.

Among the alleged charges: $48,000 on travel to Puerto Rico for themselves and relatives; $34,000 on car rentals, tolls and even parking tickets; $15,000 for clothing, shoes and accessories at such outlets as Coach, Tommy Hilfiger and Polo Ralph Lauren; and $66,000 at restaurants that included Tavern on the Green and Ruth’s Chris Steak House.

The pair also doled out $9,000 in campaign contributions to the campaign of “Assembly Member #1″ and $4,750 to a New York state political organization affiliated with the Assembly member, the complaint said.

In one nervy extravagance, the court papers said the nonprofit was even tapped to pay the $3,800 bill for flooring in the district office of “Assembly Member #1.”

The papers do not name the politician, but sources identified her as Carmen Arroyo, a 15-year member of the Assembly.

The nonprofit tagged by the feds is an affiliate of the South Bronx Community Corp., which received a $50,000 grant from Councilwoman Arroyo and $80,000 in other council funds in 2007.

Before they were elected, Arroyo and her mother had both at separate points run the SBCC.

Izquierdo Arroyo and Villegas were released on $200,000 bond each yesterday and are due back in court next month.

Both declined comment in court.

The councilwoman released a statement saying she was “very distressed to learn of the charges brought against Richard and Margarita,” and called them “hardworking, community-minded individuals. I am confident that, in the end, they will be able to clear their names.”

Source: NY Post