|
TRENTON
- Attorney General Anne Milgram announced
that a grocery store owner pleaded guilty
today to conspiring with others, including
a former employee of the City of Newark, to
steal hundreds of thousands of dollars from
the federally funded Women, Infants and Children
(WIC) nutrition program by means of fraudulent
vouchers.
According
to Criminal Justice Director Deborah L. Gramiccioni,
Benedicto Bernal, 30, of Newark, owner of
Dreamers Supermarket on 7th Ave. in Newark,
pleaded guilty today to a charge of first-degree
money laundering before Superior Court Judge
Edward M. Neafsey in Mercer County. The charge
was contained in an eight-count state grand
jury indictment obtained by the Division of
Criminal Justice Corruption Bureau on June
8, 2009.
Under
the plea agreement, the state will recommend
that Bernal be sentenced to 10 years in state
prison, one-third of which would have to be
served without possibility of parole. Judge
Neafsey scheduled sentencing for March 3.
Deputy Attorney General Michael A Monahan
took the guilty plea for the Division of Criminal
Justice.
In
pleading guilty, Bernal, who was not an authorized
WIC vendor, admitted that he purchased fraudulent
vouchers from Charles Brown, a former senior
clerk for the Newark WIC Program, and resold
them by the stack to vendors in Essex, Camden,
Union and Middlesex counties. Ultimately,
the fraudulent vouchers were deposited into
the bank accounts of more than 20 WIC-authorized
vendors throughout New Jersey. Bernal admitted
that his transactions were designed to conceal
the source of the vouchers and their fraudulent
nature.
An
ongoing investigation by the Division of Criminal
Justice Corruption Bureau revealed that between
Dec. 1, 2005, and Jan. 31, 2007, Brown and
other employees of the Newark WIC Program
conspired to issue more than $1 million in
fake vouchers.
Brown,
42, of Newark, previously pleaded guilty to
second-degree official misconduct for his
role in the scheme and was sentenced on Feb.
23, 2009, to eight years in state prison by
Superior Court Judge Michael A. Petrolle in
Essex County. On Feb. 20, 2009, another former
senior clerk in the Newark WIC Program, Wyetta
Judson, 39, of Newark, pleaded guilty to second-degree
official misconduct. She has not been sentenced
yet. The state will recommend that she also
be sentenced to state prison.
Bernal was indicted along with Audrey Walker
Bey, 36, of Newark, a former clerk for the
Newark WIC Program and Elvis Manuel Sanchez-Vasquez,
35, a former owner and manager of Sanchez
Supermarket on Springdale Avenue in East Orange.
The
charges against Walker Bey and Sanchez-Vasquez
are pending. Walker Bey was arrested in May
2008 as a result of the investigation and
is free on $40,000 bail. An arrest warrant
has been issued for Sanchez-Vasquez, who remains
a fugitive
The
investigation began when the New Jersey Department
of Health and Senior Services and the Newark
Department of Health and Human Services alerted
the Division of Criminal Justice to suspected
thefts of vouchers from the Newark WIC Program.
Deputy
Attorneys General Michael Monahan and Jeffrey
Manis are prosecuting the case. The investigation
was conducted by Detective Michael Behar and
Sgt. David Salzmann of the Division of Criminal
Justice Corruption Bureau, with the assistance
of Administrative Analyst Kathleen Ratliff.
WIC
is a federally funded program, administered
by the New Jersey Department of Health and
Senior Services, that provides low-income
women who are pregnant or breast feeding and
guardians of children up to age 5 with vouchers
to purchase nutritional necessities, including
baby formula, milk, orange juice and cereal.
The vouchers can be redeemed at any store
approved as a WIC vendor for food items specifically
listed on the voucher. Once redeemed, the
vendor completes the voucher by filling in
the cost of the product supplied. The Newark
WIC Program is one of 18 WIC programs in New
Jersey.
On
May 15, 2008, Leocadia Cepeda, 38, the owner
of G&S Supermarket on Westminster Avenue
in Elizabeth, was indicted for allegedly obtaining
more than 500 WIC vouchers that she knew were
stolen and using them to fraudulently collect
more than $25,000 from the state Department
of Health and Senior Services. Cepeda was
admitted into the Pre-Trial Intervention Program
on the condition that she pay full restitution
and cooperate in the ongoing investigation.
Attorney
General Milgram and Criminal Justice Director
Gramiccioni noted that the Division of Criminal
Justice - Corruption Bureau has established
a statewide Corruption Tipline: 1-866-TIPS-4CJ.
Additionally, the public can log on to the
Division’s Web page at www.njdcj.org
to report suspected wrongdoing. All information
received through the Division of Criminal
Justice Corruption Tipline or Web page will
remain confidential.
###
|
