By Jon Schuppe and Shayna Jacobs
DNAinfo Reporters/Producers
MANHATTAN — The owner of an Inwood restaurant has been charged with plotting to bribe a State Liquor Authority official for a permit to sell alcohol.
Annie Guerrero, 34, who owns D’Noche Café on Sherman Avenue, allegedly agreed with a consultant to offer $5,000 to an SLA official to help her avoid a lengthy review process, the Manhattan District Attorney’s office said.
The consultant, Maria Elena Nunez, runs a company called #1 Business Solutions, which represents people applying for liquor licenses. After making the deal with Guerrero, she was told that there would be no way to sidestep the SLA review. She then tried to steal Guerrero’s money, the district attorney’s office said.
Both women were indicted last week on bribery charges. Nunez 51, of New City, N.Y., was also charged with attempted grand larceny.
The charges stem from an ongoing investigation by the district attorney and state inspector general into corruption at the SLA, and the scheme was also apparently a factor in the resignation of a local community board chairman.
D’Noche’s liquor license application, which was submitted in March and approved by the SLA several weeks later, has come under increasing scrutiny by public officials as neighbors complain about an explosion of new bars. D’Noche’s two-year license is good until Sept. 30, 2011.
In November, state Assemblyman Adriano Espaillat led a protest outside D’Noche, saying Guerrero hadn’t told Community Board 12 about her attempts to obtain the license. Espaillat also charged that the SLA shouldn’t have issued the license.
The authority responded by releasing letters from three community leaders supporting the application: disgraced former City Council member Miguel Martinez, a local pastor and Community Board 12 Chairman Manny Velazquez.
Soon afterward, Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer’s general counsel sent Velazquez a letter noting that he overstepped his power by making the endorsement without presenting it to the entire community board for a vote, as city rules require. “Failure to fulfill these responsibilities and requirements may be basis for removal from the board,” the counsel said.
A few hours later, Velazquez submitted his resignation as chairman. But he remains a board member. The board votes on his permanent replacement on Tuesday night.
Velazquez has told the local Manhattan Times newspaper that his resignation had nothing to do with Stringer’s letter.
There has been no indication from authorities that the SLA probe is connected to Velazquez’s resignation.
