Another corrupt Democrat

NYC Councilman Ruben Wills arrested

By Carl Campanile

May 7, 2014 | 7:43am

Modal Trigger

Queens Councilman Ruben Wills is escorted to central booking after his Wednesday morning arrest for allegedly misusing public funds.Photo: Ellis Kaplan

Queens Councilman Ruben Wills was arrested Wednesday morning in connection with misuse of public funds, law enforcement sources said.

Wills had been under investigation by state Attorney General Eric Schneiderman and State Comptroller Tom DiNapoli over tens of thousands of dollars in missing state funds given to a not-for-profit group he once headed, New York 4 Life.

Wills personally submitted a voucher with the state Office of Children and Family Services on behalf of the group in 2010. But Wills declined to answer questions and invoked his Fifth Amendment rights when he was asked about the missing funds by investigators last year.

Wills, a former aide to ex-state Sen. Shirley Huntley, who was convicted in another not-for-profit scam.

The councilman is also being probe for steering funds to another non profit group, the Young Leaders Institute.

Wills and a relative on his payroll, Jelani Mills, were arrested and being processed at the 112th Pct. in Forest Hills.

Wills is being charged with grand larceny and other crimes for stealing thousands of dollars in taxpayer dollars, sources close to the probe said.

Before becoming a councilman, Wills was Huntley’s chief of staff when the senator steered tens of thousands of dollars in “member items” or legislative grants to his group, NY4LIfe.

Sources said NY4 LIfe was supposed to help single moms and dads and promote neighborhood revitalization, but was mostly a sham.

Jelani Mills is being charged with conspiring with Wills in the grand larceny scheme, sources said.

In the wake of his arrest, Wills has relinquished his chairmanship of the Council’s subcommittee on drug abuse. He also is barred from appropriating city legislative grants to groups in his district, a source said.

“The City Council takes these troubling allegations from the New York State Attorney General very seriously and will be reviewing them thoroughly. New Yorkers expect and deserve a government that is ethical and responsible and that is the standard we’re seeking to uphold,” Council Speaker Melissa Mark Viverito said in a statement.