TRENTON
– Attorney General Jeffrey S. Chiesa
announced that a Toms River contractor whose
company was hired by the City of Hoboken to
collect coins from city parking meters was
sentenced to state prison today for stealing
over $1 million in parking revenues.
Brian
A. Petaccio, 52, of Toms River, the owner
of United Textile Fabricators LLC, was sentenced
to five years in state prison by Superior
Court Judge Francis R. Hodgson Jr. in Ocean
County. Petaccio pleaded guilty on Sept.
30, 2009 to an accusation charging him with
second-degree theft by unlawful taking for
stealing approximately $1,175,000 in coins
from Hoboken’s parking meters between
June 2005 and April 2008. After an audit
in 2007 uncovered parking revenue shortfalls,
Petaccio and his company returned approximately
$575,000 to the city. However, Petaccio
admitted, in pleading guilty, that he diverted
an additional $600,000 that was not reported
to the city.
On
April 2, 2012, John P. Corea, 48, former
director of the Hoboken Parking Utility,
was sentenced to seven years in state prison,
including three years of parole ineligibility,
by Judge Hodgson. Corea pleaded guilty to
second-degree official misconduct, admitting
that he became aware that Petaccio and United
Textile had stolen a large amount of the
city’s parking revenues, but did not
take any steps to stop the thefts or notify
the city. Corea also admitted that he steered
three separate no-bid contracts to United
Textile to collect, count and manage the
coins from the city’s parking meters,
and made false statements to the city council
about the qualifications and experience
of the company, which is a coin-operated
arcade game manufacturer.
Corea
and Petaccio were each ordered to pay $300,000
to the City of Hoboken in restitution for
the $600,000 in revenue that was stolen
from the city by Petaccio and not previously
repaid.
Deputy
Attorney General Jeffrey J. Manis prosecuted
the case and handled the sentencing for
the Division of Criminal Justice Corruption
Bureau. The charges resulted from an investigation
by the Division of Criminal Justice and
the New Jersey State Police. The investigation
was conducted by Detective Sgt. Peter Layng
of the State Police Official Corruption
Bureau North Unit, and Sgt. Lisa Shea, Deputy
Attorney General Manis, Deputy Attorney
General Perry Primavera, and Administrative
Analyst Kathleen Ratliff of the Division
of Criminal Justice Corruption Bureau.
