A federal rap - all for a driveway???? As Rita would say, "WHAT'S
WRONG WITH THESE PEOPLE?!"
--- In AsburyPark@yahoogroups.com, "Heather" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>
>
> This is amazing! I thought maybe it was a joke when I first read it
> on here...
>
> --- In AsburyPark@yahoogroups.com, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
> > www.politicsnj.com
> >
> > Political Corruption Roundup in Monmouth County: 11 Sitting and
> Former Public
> > Officials Charged with Extortion
> >
> > NEWARK - Eleven sitting and former Monmouth County public
> officials -
> > including the current mayors of Keyport, Hazlet and West Long
> Branch - were arrested
> > today, charged with extorting cash bribes and free work from a
> contractor who
> > was cooperating with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, U.S.
> Attorney
> > Christopher J. Christie and FBI Special Agent in Charge Joseph
> Billy, Jr. announced.
> >
> > In an unprecedented roundup of public officials in a single New
> Jersey county
> > in a single day, FBI agents made the arrests early this morning,
> acting on
> > arrest warrants signed Friday with the filing of eight Criminal
> Complaints under
> > seal in federal court. The arrests are part of a long-running
> undercover
> > investigation during which Monmouth County public officials
> accepted and sought to
> > perpetuate corrupt payments from the contractor.
> >
> > "What we discovered is that this was business as usual across a
> surprisingly
> > wide swath of Monmouth County, where an attitude of greed,
> arrogance and
> > entitlement prevailed," Christie said. "These complaints portray
a
> shocking
> > eagerness and ease with which these public officials engaged in
> criminal activity, to
> > trade contracts for cash or even to be involved in money
> laundering."
> >
> > "I can assure you that we and the FBI are not done in Monmouth
> County,"
> > Christie added.
> >
> > Said Billy: "Residents of Monmouth County should breathe a sigh
of
> relief
> > thanks to this wide-reaching, extensive public corruption
> investigation targeting
> > greed-driven public officials. All too often our elected
officials
> see public
> > service as a means to personal financial gain. Hopefully, these
> arrests put
> > other public officials on notice that such corrupt activities
will
> not be
> > tolerated."
> >
> > The arrests are an outgrowth of an earlier investigation, which
led
> to the
> > convictions of other Monmouth County public officials, including
> former Asbury
> > Park Mayor Butch Saunders and Saunders' advisor Rayfield James,
> former Ocean
> > Township Mayor and Asbury Park City Manager Terrence Weldon,
former
> Asbury Park
> > Councilman James Condos, and former executive director of the
> Asbury Park
> > Housing Authority, the late Kenneth Nixon.
> >
> > The cooperating witness (hereafter "the CW") referred to in the
> Criminal
> > Complaints was a contractor known to numerous public officials in
> Monmouth County.
> > During many tape-recorded and videotaped conversations, cash in
> amounts of
> > between $1,000 and $9,000 - and in one case a $5,000 home
driveway
> repaving -
> > was exchanged with the public officials, some of whom assured the
> cooperating
> > witness that they would continue to send work his way as long as
> the money kept
> > coming, according to the Complaints. In one case, a Monmouth
County
> official
> > took cash in exchange for assisting what he believed to be a
money
> laundering
> > operation of the CW and his employees.
> >
> > All but one of the public officials are charged with one count of
> extortion
> > under color of official right, which carries a maximum penalty of
> 20 years in
> > prison and a $250,000 fine. Only Thomas Broderick is charged
> differently, with
> > money laundering, which carries the same maximum penalties.
> >
> > Each of the defendants is scheduled to make appearances before
U.S.
> > Magistrate Judge Ronald J. Hedges today at about 2:30 p.m.
> >
> > Christie and Billy will hold a news conference in the 7th Floor
> Conference
> > Room of the U.S. Attorney's Office in Newark at 12:30 p.m.
> >
> > The following details are alleged in the Criminal Complaints. The
> Complaints
> > are merely accusations, and the defendants are presumed innocent
> unless and
> > until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
> Arrested and
> > charged today are the following individuals:
> >
> > Keyport Mayor John J. Merla and former Councilman Robert L. Hyer
> >
> > (both charged in the same Complaint)
> >
> > Merla allegedly took $9,000 in cash on Sept. 11, 2003, at a
> restaurant in
> > Keyport, from the CW. Merla sought money from the CW to cover
costs
> of a
> > political fundraising picnic, in exchange for Merla authorizing
> public work for the
> > CW. Then, between December 2003 and February 2004, the CW
performed
> two jobs
> > that had been awarded by Keyport Township, a bulkhead removal and
> tree chipping.
> > Merla allegedly accepted another $2,500 from the CW for steering
> the bulkhead
> > project as well as other cash payments in connection with other
> projects.
> > Hyer, who met at various times with the CW and/or Merla, was
> described to the CW
> > by Merla as "our point guy" on public projects steered to the CW.
> For his role,
> > Hyer allegedly took a $5,000 payment on June 18, 2003, outside a
> Neptune
> > restaurant, and numerous smaller cash payments. Hyer was
allegedly
> recorded in one
> > conversation with the CW saying, "We'll do whatever you want ....
I
> know the
> > game."
> >
> > West Long Branch Mayor Paul Zambrano and Councilman Joseph DeLisa
> >
> > (both charged in the same Complaint)
> >
> > Zambrano allegedly accepted a total of $5,000 in cash from the CW
> at a Sept.
> > 30, 2003 meeting with Zambrano at a Tinton Falls restaurant -
> $3,500 for
> > Zambrano and $1,500 for DeLisa ($500 of DeLisa's payment was for
> the purchase of
> > tickets to a DeLisa fundraiser). In return, the CW was promised
> municipal
> > projects, including possible demolition work on the old West Long
> Branch Borough
> > Hall. Zambrano, DeLisa and the CW met several times again and
> discussed future
> > bribe payments. On Nov. 18, 2003 in Atlantic City, DeLisa
allegedly
> accepted an
> > envelope with $1,500 in cash, while Zambrano accepted two
envelopes
> of cash -
> > one with $1,500 for him and the other with $1,000 to be given to
> another
> > unidentified official for assistance in obtaining contracts in
> another Monmouth
> > County municipality. Zambrano accepted two more corrupt payments -
> one for $4,000
> > on Jan. 29, 2004, and another for $1,500 from an undercover agent
> posing as
> > an employee of the CW, on Nov. 17, 2004.
> >
> > Hazlet Mayor Paul Coughlin
> >
> > Coughlin allegedly took $3,000 in an envelope on May 19, 2004,
from
> the CW in
> > exchange for future municipal work, including a City Hall
> demolition project.
> > Coughlin first met with someone identified as "Official 1" - a
> public
> > official from another Monmouth municipality who already had taken
> cash from the CW.
> > Official 1 told Coughlin, "Nobody watches, nobody hears, nobody
> sees .... We're
> > trying to help him (the CW) because he's helped us." To that,
> Coughlin
> > stated: "I'm on board." On May 19, Coughlin allegedly took the
> envelope from the
> > cooperating witness, with the promise of another payment in the
> future in
> > exchange for more work. As Official 1 explained, "You make that
> happen, and you'll be
> > taken good care of."
> >
> > Middletown Township Committeeman
> >
> > and former Mayor Raymond O'Grady
> >
> > O'Grady allegedly took two payments totaling $6,000 from
undercover
> agents
> > whom he believed were employees of the CW - one payment for
$1,000
> on Oct. 21,
> > 2004, and another for $5,000 on Feb. 17, 2005 - in return for
> future work for
> > the CW's company. After accepting the first payment, O'Grady was
> recorded
> > expressing his gratitude and saying he would "see how we can work
> out this
> > partnership." In response to concerns about detection expressed
by
> the undercover
> > agents, O'Grady told them not to worry because he "could smell a
> cop a mile away."
> >
> > Former Marlboro Councilman Thomas Broderick,
> >
> > a former Monmouth County undersheriff, now
> >
> > an assistant supervisor at the county Division of Highways
> >
> > Broderick allegedly accepted more than $10,000 for assisting the
CW
> in
> > laundering large sums of cash from the CW's purported
loansharking
> operation.
> > Broderick became involved via a Keyport councilman, who had
already
> engaged in
> > similar transactions with the CW. In one of the transactions, for
> example,
> > Broderick allegedly accepted $50,000 in cash in a brown paper bag
> at a meeting in a
> > Tinton Falls restaurant on May 4, 2004. In return, Broderick
wrote
> a check to
> > the CW for $45,000 and kept the difference in cash. (Broderick
> later used the
> > code word "munchkins" to refer to the cash.) Earlier that day,
> Broderick
> > allegedly said in a recorded conversation with the CW, "I wish I
> would have known you
> > sooner." Broderick went on to conduct several similar money
> laundering
> > transactions with the CW and people he believed were employees of
> the CW.
> >
> > Patsy Townsend, deputy Monmouth County fire marshal, and code
> enforcement and
> > emergency management official in Neptune Township
> >
> > Townsend allegedly accepted $1,000 in cash from an "employee" of
> the CW in
> > exchange for steering future fire-related work (demolitions and
> such) to the
> > CW's company. The cash was exchanged during a party attended by
> several Monmouth
> > County officials, sponsored by the CW at the New Jersey League of
> > Municipalities convention in Atlantic City in November 2004. Two
> Monmouth County public
> > officials who had taken bribes from the CW - including one that
> night -
> > allegedly introduced Townsend to the CW.
> >
> > Richard Iadanza, Deputy Mayor of Neptune,
> >
> > and Joseph McCurnin, a.k.a. "Joey Buses,"
> >
> > Monmouth Cty. Division of Transportation Operations Manager
> >
> > Iadanza accepted two payments totaling $3,000 from the CW or
agents
> posing as
> > employees of the CW's company. One of the payments, $1,500 on
June
> 25, 2004,
> > was for future work to be steered to the CW and to thank Iadanza
> for warning
> > the CW to steer clear of another county official who might be
> cooperating with
> > law enforcement. (McCurnin had allegedly already accepted $1,000
> from the CW
> > for the same reason.) Iadanza accepted another $1,500 on Nov. 17,
> 2004, in
> > exchange for future government work by the CW in Neptune. Iadanza
> was repeatedly
> > captured in recordings discussing other corrupt payments,
including
> his belief
> > that his vote in favor of someone in line to get a municipal
> position paying
> > $45,000 entitled him to a $10,000 to $12,000 cash payment.
> >
> > Asbury Park Councilman John J. Hamilton, Jr.
> >
> > Hamilton allegedly had the CW install a paved driveway valued at
> about $5,000
> > or $6,000 for free at Hamilton's home in August 2001, in exchange
> for the
> > promise of steering municipal contracts to the CW. Hamilton
> subsequently asked
> > the CW for a $1,000 receipt in the event he had to explain the
> driveway. FBI
> > agents did approach Hamilton in November 2002, at which time he
> falsely told the
> > agents that he had received a discount because the contractor was
> doing other
> > work in the area at the same time.
> >
> > The cases of each of the defendants will be presented to a grand
> jury to
> > consider whether they should be formally charged in an
Indictment.
> Upon
> > indictment, the defendants would appear for arraignment and enter
a
> plea before the U.S.
> > District Judge to whom the case is assigned.
> >
> > Christie credited Special Agents of the FBI's Red Bank Resident
> Agency, under
> > the direction of Special Agent in Charge Billy, with the
> investigation that
> > resulted in today's charges. Christie also credited the Special
> Prosecutions
> > Division, under the direction of Chief James Nobile, and
Assistant
> U.S.
> > Attorneys Mark McCarren and Matthew Boxer, who are prosecuting
the
> cases.
> >
> > Visit www.politicsnj.com for more information
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