11 public officials arrested in N.J. corruption probe, including 2 mayors, 2 legislators
September 06, 2007 12:23 PM EDT
TRENTON, N.J. - FBI agents arrested 11 public officials in towns across New Jersey Thursday on charges of taking bribes in exchange for influencing the awarding of public contracts, the U.S. Attorney's Office said.
Two of those arrested are state lawmakers, two are mayors, three are city councilmen, and several served on the school board in Pleasantville, where the scandal began.
All 11, plus a private individual, are accused of taking cash payments of $1,500 to $17,500 to influence who received public contracts, according to criminal complaints, said Michael Drewniak, a spokesman for U.S. Attorney Christopher J. Christie.
"This is another sad day for the people of New Jersey," said Assembly Minority Leader Alex DeCroce. "Once again, New Jersey's culture of corruption is national news."
Initial court appearances were scheduled Thursday afternoon in Trenton, and Christie and FBI Special Agent in Charge Weysan Dun planned an afternoon news conference.
A federal complaint charges each of the 12 with accepting payments from companies that offered insurance and roofing services to cities and school districts, Drewniak said.
The investigation began last year with Pleasantville schools, near Atlantic City, Drewniak said. The FBI established an undercover insurance brokerage company purporting to employ the government's two cooperating witnesses and undercover agents.
The probe widened when Pleasantville school board members referred the cooperating witnesses to public officials in northern New Jersey, Drewniak said.
Democratic state Assemblymen Mims Hackett Jr. and Alfred E. Steele were arrested, as was Passaic Mayor Samuel Rivera. Also arrested were Keith Reid, the chief of staff to Newark's City Council president; Passaic councilmen Jonathan Soto and Marcellus Jackson; two current Pleasantville school board members, three former board members and a private citizen. One of the former school board members is now a Pleasantville city councilman.
Rivera is a former police officer and professional wrestler.
Hackett, 65, is both a legislator and mayor of Orange, a city of about 33,000 residents 15 miles west of New York City. He was convicted of kidnapping in 1975 and sentenced to 30 years in prison, but was pardoned a year later when the victim recanted and Hackett's cousin confessed.
A phone message left at Hackett's office wasn't immediately returned Thursday. Neither were messages left at Reid's and Rivera's offices.
Newark City Council President Mildred Crump said she just found about Reid's arrest and had no comment. She said he has worked for her since she became the council president in 2006.
Steele, an assemblyman since 1996 and deputy speaker since 2002, also serves as a Baptist minister in Paterson. He had been Passaic County undersheriff but resigned from the $89,900-per-year post on Thursday, said sheriff's spokesman Bill Maer.
Jenna Pollard, who answered the phone at Steele's office and identified herself as his chief of staff, said she had no comment and didn't know if Steele had a lawyer.
One of the former school board members, Maurice "Pete" Callaway, is now a Pleasantville city councilman and the brother of former Atlantic City Council President Craig Callaway, who is serving time in federal prison from stemming from an unrelated corruption scheme.
"It's just a horrible day in Pleasantville," said John Deserable, a monitor sent by the state Department of Education to oversee the district's finances. "It's another black eye to the district that we don't need. The children deserve better than this."
Thursday's arrests were the latest in an anti-corruption campaign waged by Christie's office.
More than 100 public officials in the state have been convicted on federal corruption charges in the last five years. Two other Democratic state senators, Wayne Bryant of Lawnside and Sharpe James of Newark, are among others facing pending corruption charges.
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Associated Press writers David Porter, Janet Frankston Lorin and Matthew Verrinder in Newark, Angela Delli Santi in Trenton and Wayne Parry in Atlantic City contributed to this report.
It makes me sick. What bothers me the most is that we pretty much do NOTHING. What happened to standing up to our rights and holding people responsible for their actions? I know people make mistakes but come on! These are the people we put in charge and look how corrupt things are getting. It makes me sad to hear people my age (I am almost 30) say they don't care...
We need to start caring... yesterday.
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Big freaking surprise is right...but it's truly shameful when we AREN'T surprised by governmental corruption such as this. Citizens of this country have become conditioned to it, so they also become apathetic in return. Apathy will tear this country apart if we aren't careful. It's disgusting that so-called "leaders" can be paid off so easily. Oxygen thieves.
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