TRENTON - Attorney General
Paula T. Dow and Criminal Justice Director
Stephen J. Taylor announced that a former
manager for the New Jersey Department of
Corrections (DOC) was sentenced to state
prison today for conspiring with an alarm
system contractor to rig bids for DOC contracts.
According to Director Taylor,
Frederick J. Armstrong, 60, of Pemberton
Borough, was sentenced to three years in
state prison by Superior Court Judge Irvin
J. Snyder in Camden County. Armstrong pleaded
guilty on March 29 to a single charge of
conspiracy to commit the crimes of official
misconduct, unlawful restraint of trade,
theft by deception, making false representations
for government contracts, and misconduct
by a corporate official.
Armstrong was required to
forfeit his job as a construction management
specialist in the DOC Capital Planning &
Construction Unit. He will be permanently
excluded from public employment in New Jersey.
Deputy Attorney General Steven J. Zweig
prosecuted the case and handled the sentencing
for the Division of Criminal Justice Corruption
Bureau.
The charge against Armstrong
was contained in a Jan. 14, 2009 state grand
jury indictment. The indictment also charged
Paul Kerth, 59, of Collingswood, and three
companies that Kerth owns: Independent Alarm
Distributors, Inc., Adirondack Alarm, and
Automatic Alarm Associates.
An investigation by the
DOC Special Investigations Division and
the Division of Criminal Justice Corruption
Bureau revealed that between April 1999
and December 2004, Kerth and his companies,
with Armstrong’s assistance, rigged
nine DOC contracts with contract prices
that, in the aggregate, exceeded $230,000.
In pleading guilty, Armstrong
admitted that he assisted Kerth in submitting
rigged bids to the DOC and used his influence
over contracting procedures to steer contracts
awarded by the department to Independent
Alarm.
On Sept. 30, 2009, Kerth
and his three companies each pleaded guilty
to third-degree theft by deception. The
state will recommend that Kerth be sentenced
to a term of probation conditioned on him
serving 364 days in the county jail. He
and his companies are excluded from public
contracts in New Jersey for five years,
and he must pay $150,000 in restitution
into the state’s Anti-Trust Revolving
Fund. Sentencing for Kerth and his companies
is scheduled for July 1.
The investigation was conducted
and coordinated for the Division of Criminal
Justice Corruption Bureau by Lt. Keith Lerner,
Detective Paul Marfino Jr., Detective David
Patella and Deputy Attorney General Zweig.
Senior Investigators Manuel Alfonso and
Charles Walters conducted the investigation
for the Department of Corrections Special
Investigations Division.
Attorney General Dow thanked
the Department of Corrections for its referral
and extensive assistance in the investigation.
Director
Taylor noted that the Division of Criminal
Justice Corruption Bureau has established
a toll-free Corruption Tipline for the public
to report corruption, financial crime and
other illegal activities. The statewide
Corruption Tipline is 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 Division of Criminal
Justice Corruption Tipline or Web page will
remain confidential.
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