HARRISBURG — Federal prosecutors on Tuesday accused a state senator of using campaign money to bribe a Democratic Party ward committeewoman in Philadelphia by paying for her daughter’s college study abroad program.

Sen. Larry Farnese, D-Philadelphia, was charged with conspiracy, mail fraud, wire fraud and violations of the Travel Act, prosecutors said. Farnese secured support from the committeewoman for his successful candidacy in Philadelphia’s eighth ward leadership election by paying $6,000 toward the study program, they said.

The committeewoman, Ellen Chapman, was charged with the same crimes.

In a statement from Washington, the Department of Justice said the pair was involved “in a bribery and fraud scheme.”

Farnese’s lawyer Mark Sheppard said Farnese is “100 percent innocent” of the charges and that Farnese is accused of making a contribution “to a deserving young student’s scholarship fund in exchange for the support of the student’s mother in a party ward election.”

Farnese performed “a regular and appropriate part of being a community and political leader that the government would now like to be declared illegal,” Sheppard said.

The indictment said Farnese worked with an unidentified person to carry out the alleged scheme.

Farnese, 47, was first elected to the state Senate in 2008.