The director of the Schenectady County Youth Bureau was accused by two Buffalo area residents of sexually abusing them as children in the 1970s in Buffalo in two Child Victims Act lawsuits filed recently.
The lawsuits allege Ed Kosiur, who is also a member of the Schenectady City Council, molested the children from 1973 to 1975. The accusers were around 11 and 12 years old at the time. Kosiur, who lived in Erie County at the time according to the suit, would have been about 18 to 20 years old.
The lawsuits did not name the plaintiffs or explain how they came in contact with Kosiur as children.
An attorney representing Kosiur called the lawsuits "nothing more than a money grab."
“These claims should be thrown out. My client was a teenager in the 1970’s when they say this happened," said Cheryl Meyers Buth, an Orchard Park attorney. "He started his own successful plumbing business after high school and eventually became an elected official. He has a stellar record of dedicated public service.
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"People will see this for what it is – nothing more than a money grab. We’ll do whatever it takes to defend him.”
The lawsuits do not identify Kosiur as an elected Schenectady city councilor or Youth Bureau director, but list his Schenectady address. It is the same address listed for the city councilor on the City of Schenectady website and in records related to Kosiur's political campaigns.
Kosiur, 64, did not respond to phone messages or an email Thursday from The Buffalo News seeking comment.
Kosiur is paid nearly $96,000 a year as director of the Schenectady County Youth Bureau, according to seethroughny.net.
He has served as a Schenectady city councilor from 2002 to 2004 and from 2014 until the present, winning elections in 2002, 2014, 2015 and 2019, according to Albany area news reports.
He also was elected to serve on the Schenectady County Legislature from 2003 until 2007, when he ran unsuccessfully for State Assembly.
As a county legislator, he successfully pushed for passage of a county ordinance that barred convicted sex offenders from living within 2,000 feet of schools, day care centers, parks, playgrounds, public swimming pools or youth centers, the Albany Times-Union reported.
Kosiur is a former member of the Schenectady Board of Education, elected to that post in 2013, according to Albany news reports.
Kosiur worked for the Boys & Girls Club of Schenectady in a teen employment program, according to Albany area news reports. In 2008, he was hired by Schenectady County as special assistant to the Commissioner of Social Services for Youth Development.
John Egan, the Buffalo attorney who filed both lawsuits, declined to answer questions about the cases.
Mike McAndrew
Watchdog Team editor
I am the editor of The Buffalo News' Watchdog Team. I have worked at The News since 2016. Prior to that I worked for newspapers in Syracuse, N.Y., and in Pottsville, Pa.
