The attorney general has charged a suspended Lansford constable with abusing his official authority by soliciting at least seven women for sex.

George T. Bottomley Jr., 41, of the 200 block of West Bertsch Street, was arrested following an investigation by the Attorney General’s Bureau of Criminal Investigations.He is charged with promoting prostitution, bribery in official and political matters, obstructing administration of law or other government function and involuntary servitude.Bottomley, who was elected to his second, six-year term as constable in November 2015, was arraigned on the charges Tuesday before Judge Steven R. Serfass of Jim Thorpe. Bail was set at 10 percent of $20,000. He is free after posting the $2,000 bond.Investigators charge that over more than five years Bottomley offered to “help” at least seven women by paying their court costs and fines, or overlooking warrants issued for their arrest. In exchange, he asked the women to have sex with him.“These charges involve an outrageous abuse of authority from an elected public official whose position requires the public’s trust,” Attorney General Shapiro said.“This defendant used his power and position to prey upon women to feed his own desires. It is terrible conduct and we’ll prosecute it to the fullest extent of the law.”The charges against Bottomley were filed by Special Agent Robert McHugh of the state Attorney General’s office. Assisting with the investigation were the Carbon County District Attorney’s Office and police departments in Lansford and Coaldale.McHugh said that as a state constable, Bottomley served various types of warrants and enforcement orders signed by Kosciolek.“It is through these official duties that Bottomley would have contact with the public and impose the will of District Court, or in some cases, his own will, on these individuals,” the affidavit says.At least two of the women say they submitted to his efforts, according to court papers.Multiple casesThe affidavit also says that since the initial complaints were made, more women have come forward “regarding their interactions with Bottomley.”The first woman listed in the complaint said Bottomley told her that a warrant was issued for her. She told him, the affidavit says, “that she wasn’t working and couldn’t go to jail because there was no one to take care of her young child.”She said she had sex with Bottomley “because she felt threatened and feared that Bottomley would use his powers as constable to take away her child.”Although Bottomley agreed to pay her $200, he only gave her $60 after they had sex, the affidavit says.According to court papers, Bottomley brought women through a street-level basement door and they entered a room where there was a “workshop on the left” and a “furnace to the right.” One of the women said he had blankets and a pillow set up on the floor.”The second woman says Bottomley offered her money to pay her boyfriend’s outstanding fines. The affidavit quotes Bottomley as telling her, “for 30 minutes a day, you can make this all go away.”She said Bottomley said their arrangement would be like the Lifetime television show, “The Client List.”She said the boyfriend paid his own fines.A court check showed multiple warrants out for the boyfriend’s arrest when he was soliciting the woman, according to the affidavit.In the third instance, Bottomley told the woman she needed a “sugar daddy” and agreed to keep a woman’s warrants “at the bottom of the pile.”He said she wouldn’t have to worry about going to jail if she consented to a half-hour of sex for $100.The fourth woman said Bottomley offered to take care of her fines in exchange for an unusual request. She said Bottomley described things that he wanted her to do “during a sexual encounter in exchange for not arresting her on her outstanding warrant.”In the fifth situation, the woman said Bottomley contacted her on “multiple occasions” regarding an outstanding warrant. He offered to pay her to have sex with him and said he wanted to pay her outstanding fines “as a friend not a constable.”She said he eventually stopped contacting her after she told him she “couldn’t do that.”Complainant number six said she knew of a friend who had sex with Bottomley. She said Bottomley sent the friend texts seeking a threesome with him. He offered to pay the friend and the complainant $250 each. She said Bottomley told her “she could use the $250 to pay off her fines or he could ‘act like I didn’t see the warrants’ if she used the money for another purpose.”In the final case, a woman whose family had friended Bottomley who was having problems with her ex-boyfriend. The boyfriend was not allowing the woman to see her children. Bottomley told her he had arrest warrants for the boyfriend and then propositioned her.After they had sex, Bottomley gave the woman $250, the affidavit says. Eventually Bottomley served the arrest warrant on the boyfriend, the affidavit says.A preliminary hearing is tentatively scheduled for 2 p.m. Wednesday, April 26, before Judge Serfass, at the office of District Judge Casimir T. Kosciolek in Lansford.