The charges follow an investigation that State Police and the Erie County District Attorney’s Office have conducted for several months, a law enforcement official with direct knowledge of the case said on Wednesday.

“The case involves a sexual assault on a minor girl, under the age of 12,” the official said. “The child was someone he knew.”

That information was confirmed by a second source with direct knowledge of the investigation.

Pigeon denied the accusation.

“It’s impossible. I have never molested a child. It’s absolutely untrue,” he told The News. 

He said someone might be setting him up, someone whom he helped the FBI investigate.

Pigeon, who is already awaiting sentencings for crimes including bribery of a former state judge and arranging an illegal campaign contribution, has been providing information to federal agents and prosecutors looking into allegations of political corruption in Western New York.

Pigeon’s defense attorney Paul J. Cambria and District Attorney John J. Flynn declined to comment on the case when contacted by a News reporter.

But Pigeon will be transported to Buffalo for arraignment after he turns himself in to State Police, four sources said.

Pigeon, 60, is a former chairman of the Erie County Democratic Committee and political consultant and lobbyist.

In October 2018, Pigeon pleaded guilty to federal charges that he arranged an illegal political donation to the campaign of then-Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo. Neither the governor or his campaign were ever implicated in the case.

He is scheduled for sentencing on Dec. 14 in that case before U.S. District Judge Richard J. Arcara.

In September 2018, Pigeon pleaded guilty in State Supreme Court to bribing John Michalek while Michalek was serving as a State Supreme Court judge. Michalek resigned after pleading guilty in June 2017. Pigeon is scheduled to appear in state court on Jan. 21. Michalek faces sentencing on his guilty plea for taking bribes from Pigeon.

Pigeon has been under investigation by federal and state agencies since at least May 2015, when FBI agents and State Police raided his home and office in downtown Buffalo, seizing documents and computers.

Pigeon was first charged in a federal criminal complaint that was filed April 28, 2017. He pleaded guilty to federal charges on Oct. 9, 2018.

Tony Farina, a Buffalo journalist who has known Pigeon for decades, told The News he spoke to Pigeon about the new situation twice on Wednesday.

“Steve told me he does not know the specifics of the charges, but he denies any kind of wrongdoing involving kids,” Farina said. “He told me he believes that someone hacked into his phone and possibly put images of kids on his phone. He said he believes that someone he testified against as a federal witness is behind this.”

State Police investigators from the Troop A Major Crimes Unit in Batavia have been working on the new case with the Special Victims and Domestic Violence Bureau of the DA’s Office, two sources told The News.

News staff reporter Lou Michel contributed to this report.