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TRENTON
– Attorney General Paula T. Dow and
Criminal Justice Director Stephen J. Taylor
announced that former Essex County Superintendent
of Elections Carmine Casciano pleaded guilty
today to tampering with public records.
Casciano,
64, of West Caldwell, pleaded guilty to
an accusation charging him with third-degree
tampering with public records or information
before Superior Court Judge Michael A. Petrolle
in Essex County. The charge stems from a
joint investigation by the Division of Criminal
Justice Corruption Bureau and the Essex
County Prosecutor’s Office Corruption
Unit. On Jan. 15, 2010, Casciano resigned
from his position as the Essex County Commissioner
of Registration and Superintendent of Elections
as a result of the investigation.
Judge
Petrolle scheduled sentencing for Dec. 3.
Under the plea agreement, the state will
recommend a sentence of 364 days in county
jail as a condition of probation.
In
pleading guilty, Casciano admitted that
between January and March 2007, in his position
as the Essex County Commissioner of Registration
and Superintendent of Elections, he altered,
or ordered subordinate employees to alter,
documents or record-keeping data.
The
investigation determined that Casciano instructed
one or more county employees to maintain
an unauthorized log of vacation days used
by county employees to work on political
campaigns and paid days off owed to those
employees to compensate them under the scheme.
The investigation further revealed that,
in an attempt to conceal evidence of a crime,
he instructed one or more county employees
to alter and/or destroy records related
to vacation days and unauthorized paid days
off of employees who participated in the
scheme.
The
investigation was conducted for the Division
of Criminal Justice Corruption Bureau by
Deputy Attorney General Vincent Militello,
Sgt. James Scott, and Sgt. Lisa Shea. It
was conducted for the Essex County Prosecutor’s
Office Corruption Unit by Assistant Prosecutor
Brandon Minde, Detective David Sanabria
and Detective Elizabeth Bazan. Analyst Kathleen
Ratliff and all of the detectives in the
Division of Criminal Justice Corruption
Bureau North and the detectives in the Essex
County Prosecutor’s Office Corruption
Unit provided valuable assistance in the
investigation. Deputy Attorney General Militello
represented the Division of Criminal Justice
at the guilty plea hearing.
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