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TRENTON
– Attorney General Paula T. Dow and
Criminal Justice Director Stephen J. Taylor
announced that a New York State resident
and his computer recycling company were
sentenced for offering illegal cash payments
to a former employee in a New Jersey state
government warehouse in return for special
treatment in state auctions of surplus computer
equipment.
According
to Director Taylor, Jonathan Nappa, 38,
of Liverpool, N.Y., was sentenced on Friday,
May 28, to two years of probation by Superior
Court Judge Robert Billmeier in Mercer County.
Nappa and his company, Bruin Computer Trading
LLC, were ordered to pay the state $46,000,
which represents the estimated profits the
company made on computer equipment it purchased
in the state auctions. Bruin Computer will
be barred for 10 years from doing business
with any government entity in New Jersey,
while Nappa, and any other company in which
he has a substantial interest, will be barred
for five years.
On
Dec. 14, Nappa pleaded guilty to an accusation
charging him with third-degree offering
an unlawful benefit to a public servant
for official behavior. Bruin Computer pleaded
guilty to second-degree offering an unlawful
benefit to a public servant for official
behavior.
In
pleading guilty, Nappa admitted that he
paid $1,600 to William Gawroski, a former
employee in the Department of Treasury’s
First Avenue Warehouse in Hamilton, in exchange
for Gawroski revealing which lots of surplus
computer equipment being auctioned by the
state had more valuable equipment in them.
Gawroski supervised the loading of equipment
onto pallets by Department of Corrections
inmates and Juvenile Justice Commission
residents. One trailer load of pallets formed
a lot. Gawroski pleaded guilty in 2008 to
an official misconduct charge.
Deputy
Attorney General Anthony A. Picione, Deputy
Chief of the Division of Criminal Justice
Corruption Bureau, represented the Division
of Criminal Justice at Friday’s sentencing
hearing.
The
charges resulted from an investigation by
the New Jersey State Police that commenced
when Treasury officials obtained information
that Gawroski was taking illegal payments
from Bruin Computer. The probe quickly expanded
to include allegations that the warehouse
supervisor, David Winkler, 48, of Bordentown,
and other employees were taking surplus
metal equipment to a non-approved recycler,
selling it for cash as scrap metal, and
splitting the money.
Winkler, Gawroski and two other defendants
– Dominick Mangine, 45, of Jackson,
and James Mate, 49, of Yardville –
were charged with illicitly selling more
than $24,000 in scrap metal and dividing
the proceeds between July 2005 and April
2007. The surplus metal items sold as scrap
included desks, filing cabinets and other
furniture and equipment.
In
addition, Winkler and Mangine were charged
with assisting Gawroski in stealing a computer
and related accessories from the warehouse
on Dec. 17, 2007. Another employee, Thomas
Sundstrom, 67, of Southampton, was also
charged with assisting in that theft.
Mate
pleaded guilty to second-degree official
misconduct and was sentenced on March 26,
2009 to three years in state prison. 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, 2009 to 364 days in the Mercer
County Jail as a condition of two years
of probation.
Gawroski
pleaded guilty on April 11, 2008 to third-degree
pattern of official misconduct. He faces
probation. Mate, Mangine and Gawroski are
responsible for full restitution for the
scrap metal thefts of $24,292. All of them
forfeited their state jobs.
Winkler
and Sundstrom were indicted on Nov. 20,
2008. Sundstrom, 67, of Southampton, pleaded
guilty on Aug. 19, 2009 to third-degree
official misconduct. The state will recommend
that he be sentenced to 364 days in the
county jail as a condition of a term of
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.
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 David
M. Fritch of the Division of Criminal Justice
Corruption Bureau.
Attorney
General Dow 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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