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TRENTON
- Attorney General Paula T. Dow and Criminal
Justice Director Stephen J. Taylor announced
that a Union County construction contractor
pleaded guilty today to using a stolen identity,
a fictitious company, and fraudulent documents
to successfully bid on public projects,
including a project to restore the Clinton
Town dam in Hunterdon County, when his companies
were barred from such projects.
According
to Director Taylor, Joseph Budis, 61, of
New Providence, pleaded guilty to two second-degree
counts of making false representations for
government contracts before Superior Court
Judge Stephen B. Rubin in Hunterdon County.
One count relates to the Clinton Dam, and
the second, to a bridge project in Hope
Township. The charges were contained in
an Oct. 29, 2010 indictment that also named
his companies, MHHC Corporation and Murray
Hill Equipment, Inc. The companies pleaded
guilty today to the same counts, MHHC to
the count involving the Clinton Dam, and
Murray Hill to the count involving the Hope
Township bridge.
Under
the plea agreement, the state will recommend
that Budis be sentenced to state prison.
The state can recommend a maximum sentence
of five years. Budis and MHHC Corporation
are required under the plea to pay restitution
to the Town of Clinton of $44,174, representing
the losses the town sustained as a result
of the fraud. In addition, those two defendants
will face a public corruption profiteering
penalty of at least $250,000 and up to a
maximum of $2,019,720 (three times the value
of the Clinton Dam contract) to be determined
by the judge. All three defendants will
be barred from public contracts for a period
of 10 years beginning today.
“This
contractor fraudulently concealed that he
was barred from public contracts and did
not have the required insurance or bonds
to perform them. As a result, he put workers
at risk and imposed thousands of dollars
in additional costs on taxpayers,”
said Attorney General Dow. “This guilty
plea ensures that he will face a state prison
term and a major monetary penalty.”
“This
prosecution sends a strong message that
we will come down hard on any contractor
who engages in fraud while doing business
with the State of New Jersey or with any
public body or agency in the state,”
said Director Taylor.
Judge
Rubin scheduled sentencing for June 10.
Deputy
Attorney General Steven J. Zweig prosecuted
the case and took the plea for the Division
of Criminal Justice Corruption Bureau. The
investigation was conducted and coordinated
by Detective Mario E. Dirienzo of the State
Police Official Corruption Bureau, Detective
Sgt. Jay Hunter of the Clinton Town Police
Department, and Deputy Attorney General
Zweig.
Budis
was arrested in July 2010, when Clinton
Town police officers, who were investigating
an incident in which a worker broke his
leg at the Clinton dam site, learned that
Budis, the project manager, was using the
alias Joe DeLia. They subsequently discovered
that two companies run by Budis, Murray
Hill Enterprise Inc. and Murray Hill Equipment
Inc., were prohibited from bidding on public
contracts by the New Jersey Department of
Labor and Workforce Development because
of prevailing wage violations and unpaid
fines.
Further
investigation by the State Police Official
Corruption Bureau, Clinton Town Police Department
and the Division of Criminal Justice Corruption
Bureau revealed that Budis stole the Social
Security number of an acquaintance and used
his identity to obtain a public works contractor
registration certificate from the state
for a sham company, listing the man as president
of MHHC Corporation, also known as Murray
Hill Historical Corporation. Budis used
the certificate to bid on the $673,240 dam
contract, which was awarded to MHHC in April
2010.
In
connection with the contract, Budis filed
bonds, a certificate of liability insurance
and notarizations, all of which were fraudulent.
He had no workers’ compensation insurance.
Clinton Town was forced to re-bid the state-funded
project, which resulted in additional costs.
In
addition, Budis submitted a fraudulent certificate
of liability insurance and forged notarizations
in bidding on the $222,330 bridge rehabilitation
project in Hope Township, which was awarded
to Murray Hill Equipment Inc. in July 2006
by Warren County.
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