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TRENTON
- Attorney General Anne Milgram announced
that a suspended state warehouse employee
pleaded guilty today for his role in misappropriating
computer equipment from the Department of
Treasury’s First Avenue Warehouse in
Hamilton.
According
to Criminal Justice Director Deborah L. Gramiccioni,
Thomas Sundstrom, 67, of Southampton, pleaded
guilty to third-degree official misconduct
before Superior Court Judge Robert Billmeier
in Mercer County.
Under
the plea agreement, the state will recommend
that Sundstrom be sentenced to 364 days in
the county jail as a condition of a term of
probation. Sundstrom was required by the state
to forfeit his state job and will be permanently
barred from public employment in New Jersey.
He could face a fine of up to $15,000.
Judge
Billmeier scheduled sentencing for Sundstrom
for Oct. 29. Deputy Attorney General Anthony
Picione, deputy chief of the Division of Criminal
Justice Corruption Bureau, and Deputy Attorney
General David M. Fritch prosecuted the case
and took the guilty plea.
In
pleading guilty, Sundstrom admitted that he
gave computer equipment from the warehouse
to people who were not entitled to receive
it at the direction of the supervisor of the
warehouse, David Winkler, 47, of Bordentown.
Sundstrom said he gave computer equipment
to a co-worker, Dominick Mangine, 45, of Jackson,
who previously pleaded guilty in the case,
and also gave computer equipment to juveniles
who were assigned to the warehouse as part
of a work study program of the Juvenile Justice
Commission.
Winkler
and Sundstrom were indicted on Nov. 20, 2008.
The indictment charged that Winkler and Sundstrom
misappropriated computer equipment for the
personal use of other individuals, including
other warehouse employees. Winkler was also
charged with running a scheme in which he
and other employees illicitly sold more than
$24,000 in scrap metal and divided the proceeds
between July 2005 and April 2007. Winkler
and Sundstrom were suspended from their state
jobs after their arrests on April 10, 2008.
Three
other former warehouse employees have pleaded
guilty in connection with the scrap metal
scheme. They are James Mate, 49, of Yardville;
Mangine; and William Gawroski III, 33, of
Hamilton.
The
charges resulted from a year-long investigation
by the New Jersey State Police that commenced
when Treasury officials obtained information
that Gawroski was taking illegal payments
from a recycling company in return for helping
the company to secure more valuable equipment
in auctions of surplus state computer equipment.
The probe quickly expanded to include allegations
that employees at the warehouse were taking
home state-owned computers and that Winkler
and other employees were taking surplus metal
equipment to a non-approved recycler, selling
it for cash as scrap metal, and splitting
the money. The surplus metal items sold as
scrap included desks, filing cabinets and
other furniture and equipment.
The
investigation was conducted and coordinated
by Lt. Keith Dangler, Detective Sgt. 1st Class
John Cappetta and Detective Sgt. Vincent Greene
of the State Police State Governmental Security
Bureau Investigations Unit, and Deputy Attorneys
General Picione and Fritch.
Mate
pleaded guilty to second-degree official misconduct
and was sentenced on March 26 to three years
in state prison. He and his co-defendants
who pleaded guilty in the scrap metal scheme
are responsible for full restitution for the
thefts of $24,292. All of them forfeited their
state jobs.
Mangine,
who held the job of storekeeper at the warehouse,
pleaded guilty to a charge of third-degree
pattern of official misconduct and was sentenced
on Feb. 26 to 364 days in the Mercer County
Jail as a condition of two years of probation.
He also was ordered to perform 50 hours of
community service.
Gawroski
pleaded guilty on April 11, 2008 to third-degree
pattern of official misconduct. He faces probation.
The
charges are pending against Winkler, who is
free on $25,000 bail. The indictment charges
him with conspiracy (2nd degree), two counts
of official misconduct (2nd degree), theft
by unlawful taking (3rd degree), and misapplication
of entrusted property and property of government
(3rd degree).
Second-degree
crimes carry a maximum sentence of 10 years
in state prison and a criminal fine of $150,000,
while third-degree crimes carry a maximum
sentence of five years in prison and a $15,000
fine. The indictment is merely an accusation
and the defendant is presumed innocent until
proven guilty.
Attorney
General Milgram noted that the Division of
Criminal Justice has established a toll-free
Corruption Tipline for the public to report
corruption, financial crime and other illegal
activities: 1-866-TIPS-4CJ.
Additionally, the public can log on to the
Division Web site at www.njdcj.org
to report suspected wrongdoing. All information
received through the Tipline or Web page will
remain confidential.
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