TRENTON
- Attorney General Paula T. Dow and Criminal
Justice Director Stephen J. Taylor announced
that a Union County construction contractor
was sentenced to state prison today for
using a stolen identity, a fictitious company,
and fraudulent documents to successfully
bid on public projects when his companies
were legally barred from such projects.
The projects included a contract to restore
the Clinton Town dam in Hunterdon County.
According
to Director Taylor, Joseph Budis, 61, of
New Providence, was sentenced to four years
in state prison by Superior Court Judge
Stephen B. Rubin in Hunterdon County. Budis
pleaded guilty on March 18, 2011, to two
second-degree counts of making false representations
for government contracts. One count related
to the Clinton Dam, and the second, to a
bridge project in Hope Township. He was
charged in an Oct. 29, 2010 indictment that
also named his companies, MHHC Corporation
and Murray Hill Equipment, Inc. The companies
pleaded guilty to the same counts: MHHC
to the count involving the Clinton Dam,
and Murray Hill to the count involving the
Hope Township bridge.
Budis
and MHHC Corporation were ordered 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, Budis
and MHHC were ordered to pay a public corruption
profiteering penalty of $250,000. All three
defendants are barred from public contracts
for a period of 10 years.
“This
contractor engaged in one deception after
another, putting workers at risk and costing
the taxpayers in these municipalities thousands
of dollars,” said Attorney General
Dow. “Prison is the appropriate punishment
for this type of fraud.”
“With
millions of dollars spent by local taxpayers
each year on municipal projects, we cannot
afford to allow dishonest operators such
as this one to work on these contracts,”
said Director Taylor. “We urge anyone
with information about fraud involving public
projects to call the Division of Criminal
Justice. We will thoroughly investigate
any confidential leads we receive.”
Deputy
Attorney General Steven J. Zweig prosecuted
the case for the Division of Criminal Justice.
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.
Attorney
General Dow and 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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