Marc Panepinto, a partner at Dolce Panepinto in Buffalo, has pleaded guilty to a public corruption charge related to his time as a New York state senator in 2016. The plea agreement between federal prosecutors and Panepinto, a Democrat from Buffalo, said he tried to cover up his sexual harassment of a former Senate staffer by offering her money and a new job. Panepinto, who is also married to Erie County Supreme Court Justice Catherine Nugent Panepinto, could face up to one year in prison and a $100,000 fine, according to the plea agreement. A date for sentencing was not set. The deal comes more than two years after Marc Panepinto harassed a former staffer while in New York City for a fundraiser in January 2016, prosecutors said. Panepinto made “a series of unwanted, verbal, and physical sexual advances” toward the staffer in her hotel room, where they were counting donations from the event, the plea agreement said. Panepinto, at one point, laid his head on the staffer's lap, pulled her feet toward him, and told her they smelled “sexy”, according to the plea agreement. He also told her she could be promoted during his next term, an empty promise since Panepinto chose not to seek re-election that year. After she asked him to leave her room, Panepinto texted her at 1:46 a.m. to tell her he was “wide awake” and “not tired at all,” the agreement said. The staffer resigned after she returned to Buffalo, which prompted an investigation by the state Senate. That investigation was referred to the Joint Commission on Public Ethics, the state's ethics monitoring group for lawmakers and lobbyists. Panepinto asked a senior member of his staff to meet with the former staffer and offer money or a new job if she did not cooperate with the JCOPE investigation in March 2016, according to the plea agreement. That meeting happened on March 7. The former staffer did not take the deal. Panepinto then announced he would not seek re-election that year on March 15. Panepinto said during the announcement he wasn't seeking re-election because he wanted to focus on his law firm, feared a ban on outside income for state lawmakers, and had “some staff issues.” “There's also been some staff issues in my office, some turnover, and I'm cooperating in that process and that's a part of this decision but it's really about my family, my partners, and a potential ban on outside income,” Panepinto said at the time. When a reporter asked him if he could speak to rumors about a relationship in his office, Panepinto said he couldn't talk about it. “I can't speak to any relationships in the office, and any personnel matter will be dealt with in a confidential manner through Senate personnel.” The plea agreement did not explicitly say Panepinto's actions in New York City led to him leaving office, but it does show how soon his announcement came after the former staffer denied his offer for money or employment. Assistant U.S. Attorney Paul Bonanno handled the case for the prosecution. U.S. Attorney James Kennedy Jr. of the Western District of New York chided Panepinto in a statement. “While the defendant's behavior in the hotel room was bad, his efforts to cover up that behavior constituted a federal crime,” Kennedy said. “In behaving as he did, the defendant not only abused the trust of a young female staffer over whom he held a position of authority, but he also betrayed the trust of those he was elected to serve.” Herbert Greenman of Lipsitz Green Scime Cambria in Buffalo represented Panepinto. He declined to comment beyond Panepinto's statement.