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Steuben County Legislator Steve Maio, 55, of Corning was charged, along with four others, as part of a of sex trafficking ring on Dec. 17. Maio, who is also a Corning lawyer, was charged by New York State police with soliciting a prostitute in the third degree, a misdemeanor, on August 12, 2020. Maio pled not guilty to that charge in Hornellsville Town Court in November, with the case scheduled for continuance in January. He maintained his innocence on that charge and has continued to work as a county legislator, representing the City of Corning.
In the December 2020 recent case, the others arrested with Maio last week are Larry Comfort Senior and Larry Comfort Junior of Elmira Heights, Jonathan Hamilton of Elmira, and Michael Stratton of Corning, facing a total of 34 felony counts. All five have pled not guilty.
Larry Comfort Sr. is charged under each count, and the other four are charged as accomplices. Comfort Sr. is the same Larry Comfort who was charged with the murder of New York State Police Investigator Larry Van Hall, and the wounding of his partner William Gorenflo . Maio was the alleged driver at that time. Comfort served a jail sentence for that until the case was overturned in 1985, but still had to spend more years in jail for a felony first degree criminal sale of cocaine conviction.. Comfort Sr. was paroled in 2013. His brother Joseph, who was also charged and found guilty with Larry Comfort in the VanHall case, died in prison in 2019.
The arrests come as the result of tips received by New York State Police, and investigation done by them and Elmira Police concerning illegal enterprise in Chemung and Steuben counties. State Police Violent Gangs and Narcotics Enforcement Team, the Elmira City Police Drug Enforcement Unit and troopers from the Painted Post Barracks, and the Steuben County District Attorney’s office all worked on the investigation.
The District Attorney told the press all five men must be presumed innocent until a judge or jury says otherwise, but he felt just getting the case to this point makes the county safer for all, and keeps others from being “dragged into the dark world of sex trafficking.