[AsburyPark] Details on FBI arrests

Tue, 22 Feb 2005 10:19:22 -0800

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.

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