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TRENTON - Attorney General
Paula T. Dow and Criminal Justice Director
Stephen J. Taylor announced that the former
sales director of OSI Collection Services
Inc., a state contractor hired to collect
unpaid taxes, pleaded guilty today to offering
an illegal gift to a state official and
concealing the fact that OSI was overbilling
the state by hundreds of thousands of dollars.
According to Director Taylor,
Sandra Bielanski, 43, of Hillsborough, pleaded
guilty to a charge of offering an unlawful
benefit to a public servant for official
behavior before Superior Court Judge Robert
C. Billmeier. That charge was contained
in an Aug. 10, 2006 state grand jury indictment
obtained by the Division of Criminal Justice
Corruption Bureau. She also pleaded guilty
to an accusation charging her with tampering
with public records or information. Both
are third-degree crimes.
Under the plea agreement,
the state will recommend that Bielanski
be sentenced to 364 days in the county jail
as a condition of a term of probation to
be set by the judge. She must execute a
consent order barring her from doing business
with any public agency for five years, and
may face a criminal fine of up to $30,000.
Deputy Attorneys General
Thomas R. Clark and Steven J. Zweig took
the guilty plea for the Division of Criminal
Justice Corruption Bureau. Judge Billmeier
scheduled sentencing for Bielanski for Sept.
8.
In pleading guilty, Bielanski
admitted that she arranged a night in New
York City at the expense of her company
for Robert Thompson, the former director
of the New Jersey Division of Taxation,
and Thompson’s wife on Sept. 22, 2004.
The excursion, which included limo service
to the city, tickets to the Broadway musical
“Wicked,” and meals and drinks
at two restaurants, cost OSI more than $2,450.
Criminal charges are pending against Thompson,
61, of Hamilton.
Bielanski further admitted
that she became aware that OSI was improperly
billing the state, but took steps to conceal
that fact from state officials. That is
the basis for her guilty plea to tampering
with public records or information. Two
other employees of OSI, Enos “George”
Blake, 62, of Kendall Park, and Carol Labbe,
42, of Jackson, were indicted in connection
with the improper bills. The charges against
Blake and Labbe are pending.
The indictment against Blake
and Labbe alleges that Blake, as the OSI
vice president responsible for managing
state projects, and Labbe, as his de facto
second in command, purposely submitted improper
bills between January 1999 and May 2005
that caused the state to overpay OSI by
$1,184,662.
OSI was contracted to collect
unpaid income and business taxes. The contracts
provided for OSI to bill the state on an
hourly basis for work performed by employees
who fit five defined job titles. In some
cases, employees were identified with incorrect
job titles that resulted in them being billed
at a higher rate. In others, employees were
billed who should not have been billed at
all. Blake and Labbe were initially indicted
in 2007, and were charged in a superseding
indictment on March 10, 2008.
Bielanski was charged in
the Aug. 10, 2006 indictment with Thompson
and two deputy directors of the Division
of Taxation: David M. Gavin, 57, of Titusville,
and Harold E. Fox, 61, of Wall. Charges
are pending against Thompson, Gavin and
Fox. They are charged with making discretionary
decisions while under undisclosed conflicts
of interest caused by their receipt of meals,
entertainment, golf outings and other gifts
from OSI. Thompson and Gavin are charged
with official misconduct and engaging in
a pattern of official misconduct, and Fox
is charged with official misconduct, all
second-degree offenses.
The charges against the
remaining defendants are merely accusations
and they are presumed innocent until proven
guilty.
The investigations were
conducted and coordinated by Detective Benjamin
Kukis and Deputy Attorneys General Clark
and Zweig of the Division of Criminal Justice
Corruption Bureau.
The
Division of Criminal Justice Corruption
Bureau has established a toll-free Corruption
Tipline 1-866-TIPS-4CJ.
Additionally, the public can log on to the
Division of Criminal Justice 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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