TRENTON
– Attorney General Anne Milgram and
Criminal Justice Director Deborah L. Gramiccioni
announced that a Mercer County painting company
was sentenced today for falsifying a state
registration certificate in order to perform
work on five public contracts after the company’s
registration had been revoked.
According
to Director Gramiccioni, Vanko Painting/Coating
Inc., located in Ewing, N.J., was ordered
by Superior Court Judge Robert C. Billmeier
in Mercer County to pay a $10,000 fine and
pay $24,035 in restitution to a contractor
that lost money due to Vanko’s misrepresentation.
The company was ordered to serve a two-year
period of probation, during which it will
be subject to monitoring.
The
company pleaded guilty on Nov. 5, 2008 to
a second-degree charge of making false representations
for government contracts. The charge was contained
in a July 14, 2008 indictment that also charged
the owner of the company, George M. Vanicsko
Jr., 53, of Yardley, Pa. Under the plea agreement,
the charges against Vanicsko were dismissed.
The case was referred to the Division of Criminal
Justice by the Department of Labor and Workforce
Development, Division of Wage and Hour Compliance,
which initially investigated the fraud.
On
Sept. 20, 2006, Vanicsko and Vanko had their
public works contractor registrations revoked
by the labor commissioner for one year because
Vanicsko made material misrepresentations
on Vanko’s registration renewal application.
A valid registration from the labor department
is required to work on public contracts in
the state. An administrative law judge found
Vanicsko failed to disclose his financial
interest in another company, V.W. Painting,
which also performed government contracts.
Vanicsko
and Vanko were required to cease work on any
public contracts and not bid or perform work
on any new public contracts. However, Vanicsko
instead altered the expiration date on an
old registration certificate for Vanko so
that the company could obtain two new public
contracts and continue work on three others.
Vanicsko allegedly provided the altered certificate
to the general contractors on the projects.
The
new contracts included a $98,500 subcontract
for work at the Cresskill Junior Senior High
School and a $46,000 subcontract for work
at the High Mountain School in North Haledon.
The ongoing contracts included a $195,000
subcontract for work at Harrison High School,
a $150,000 subcontract for work at West New
York Public School #4, and a $23,000 subcontract
for work at the Lakehurst Emergency Management
Facility.
When
the fraud was uncovered, the labor department
ordered that Vanko be removed from the job
sites. The disruption caused one of the general
contractors, Bergen Engineering Inc, to lose
$24,035 on the Cresskill Junior Senior High
School project. Vanko was ordered to pay full
restitution to Bergen Engineering as part
of its sentence.
Deputy
Attorney General Valerie Noto prosecuted the
case and handled today’s sentencing
for the Division of Criminal Justice Major
Crimes Bureau.
Detective
Gary O’Brien conducted the investigation
for the Major Crimes Bureau. He was assisted
by Senior Field Representative Marc A. Goldberg
of the Department of Labor, Division of Wage
and Hour Compliance.
Vanicsko
was debarred from working on public contracts
for three years beginning in 2008 because
of his failure to maintain and provide to
the labor department payroll records required
under the Prevailing Wage Act.
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