Prosecutors looking into false reports of veterans displaced by migrants

ALBANY, N.Y. — The state Attorney General's Office said Friday it is looking into reports that a nonprofit organization in the Hudson Valley erroneously claimed that homeless veterans placed in hotels were kicked out last week by migrants bused there from New York City.

The accusation that about 20 veterans were tossed from a Newburgh hotel in Orange County to make way for the asylum-seekers drew national headlines and broad condemnation. But the claims soon began to unravel when the hotel showed proof that it was not housing homeless veterans and that no one was displaced when the migrants arrived.

Sharon Toney-Finch, a disabled veteran who founded the Yerik Israel Toney Foundation, said she was misguided in her initial understanding that veterans under her group's care were moved from the hotel.

"For us not to confirm where they were kicked out of or removed from, that was YIT's fault," she said

The situation also ensnared the local Assemblymember Brian Maher (R-Orange County) who railed against the alleged displacement of veterans after he said he believed Toney-Finch's story that he said was backed up by hotel receipts she showed him from people who stayed at the Crossroads Hotel. But he told the Times Union in Albany on Thursday that he was tricked, saying he was "devastated and disheartened."

A spokesperson for Attorney General Tish James said the office is aware of the situation and is "looking into it" but cautioned that doesn't mean a formal investigation has been opened.

The Orange County District Attorney's Office also warned against any rush to judgment on any potential illegalities.

"As a matter of policy we do not normally comment on the existence or non-existence of investigations where no charges have been publicly filed," the office said in a statement. "However, lying, without more, does not itself constitute criminal conduct, particularly absent any allegations of financial impropriety."

The Mid Hudson News and the Times Union uncovered another twist Friday. Both reported that it appears homeless men from a nearby shelter were recruited by Toney-Finch to act as veterans that had been displaced from the Newburgh hotel.

Toney-Finch told POLITICO that the reports were "a total lie."

Elected officials on both sides of the aisle criticized attempts to claim veterans were displaced as a way to smear migrants who were sent there by Mayor Eric Adams as New York City has been inundated with asylum-seekers.

Gov. Kathy Hochul on Friday called the mistruths "deeply troubling."

"These individuals were sent there with a legal contract between the city of New York and a hotel owner. They are allowed to contract that way," she told reporters in Buffalo when asked about the reports. "And if people want to fabricate stories to undermine the whole process, I think it's reprehensible."