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TRENTON
– Attorney General Paula T. Dow and
Criminal Justice Director Stephen J. Taylor
announced that a longtime aide of former
Perth Amboy Mayor Joseph Vas pleaded guilty
today to conspiring with Vas to obtain an
illicit payment from a city vendor and illegally
funneling money into Vas’ congressional
campaign via straw donors to evade campaign
funding and reporting rules.
According
to Director Taylor, Melvin Ramos, 54, of
Perth Amboy, pleaded guilty to charges of
second-degree conspiracy and third-degree
financial facilitation of criminal activity
before Superior Court Judge Anthony J. Mellaci
Jr. in Monmouth County. The charges were
contained in a May 21, 2009 indictment stemming
from an investigation by the Division of
Criminal Justice Corruption Bureau. The
19-count indictment also charged Vas, two
corporations that were city vendors, and
two owners of one of the corporations. The
charges against Vas, including multiple
second-degree counts of official misconduct
and conspiracy, remain pending. All of the
other defendants have pleaded guilty.
Under
the plea agreement, the state will recommend
that Ramos be sentenced to seven years in
state prison. He must cooperate fully in
the ongoing case against Vas and will be
permanently barred from public employment
in New Jersey. On Oct. 8, Vas and Ramos
were convicted of federal corruption charges
filed by the U.S. Attorney’s Office
for the District of New Jersey. They are
scheduled to be sentenced in federal court
in January. The state prison term will run
concurrently with the term that Ramos will
serve in federal prison. Ramos also is jointly
and severally liable with co-defendants
for payment of $58,006 in restitution to
Perth Amboy.
“This
longtime aide to Mayor Vas today admitted
that, at the mayor’s bidding, he engaged
in two illegal schemes: one to pump funds
into Vas’ congressional campaign,
and a second to have a city vendor pay an
unauthorized catering bill for a city gala,”
said Attorney General Dow. “We allege
that all of this was about Vas corruptly
seeking to build his war chest and his political
stature.”
“We
have now taken guilty pleas from all of
the defendants named in the May 2009 state
grand jury indictment, with the exception
of Joseph Vas,” said Director Taylor.
“All of the co-defendants admitted
their involvement in the corrupt schemes
that we uncovered. We stand ready to take
Vas to trial.”
Deputy
Attorney General Dianne C. DiGiamber Deal
and Supervising Deputy Attorney General
Susan Kase took the guilty plea. They are
prosecuting the case with Deputy Attorney
General Pearl Minato for the Division of
Criminal Justice Corruption Bureau. Sentencing
for Ramos is scheduled for Jan. 28.
In
pleading guilty, Ramos admitted that between
January and July 2006, he and Vas solicited
city employees and others to make fraudulent
contributions to Vas’ 2006 campaign
for the U.S. House of Representatives for
the 13th Congressional District. Ramos admitted
he paid cash to the people he solicited
to reimburse them for writing personal checks
payable to “Vas for Congress.”
Ramos is guilty of money laundering because
he admitted that by structuring funds into
the campaign through people who falsely
appeared to be making personal contributions,
they sought to avoid applicable state and
federal currency transaction reporting requirements
in connection with deposits into the campaign’s
account at Commerce Bank.
In
pleading guilty to the conspiracy charge,
Ramos admitted that he participated in a
fraudulent scheme with a city contractor,
Imperial Construction Group Inc. of Pine
Brook. On Aug. 3, the owners of the company,
Frank Dominguez, 47, of Chester, and Richard
Briggs, 50, of Long Valley, pleaded guilty
to third-degree misconduct by a corporate
official for submitting a false invoice
to the City of Perth Amboy. The company
pleaded guilty to third-degree submission
of false payment claims under a government
contract.
Dominguez
and Briggs admitted that they submitted
a false invoice for Imperial Construction,
allegedly at the direction of Vas, so that
they could obtain payment from the city
secretly reimbursing them for a $58,006
catering bill they paid at the mayor’s
request. The bill, which was not authorized,
was for a ribbon cutting ceremony on April
19, 2008 at the new Perth Amboy Public Safety-Court-Community
Complex.
The
state will recommend that Dominguez and
Briggs each be sentenced to five years of
probation. They are scheduled for sentencing
on Feb. 18. The two men and Imperial Construction
will be barred from public contracts in
New Jersey for five years. Those three defendants
are jointly and severally liable with Ramos
for paying restitution to the City of Perth
Amboy of $58,006. They must cooperate fully
in the ongoing prosecution.
On
Aug. 26, another city vendor under Mayor
Vas, Jenicar Builders Contractors Co., Inc.,
pleaded guilty to third-degree conspiracy
to commit official misconduct, admitting
that, between May and November 2002, it
performed approximately $25,000 in masonry
and paving work at Vas’ home, free
of charge. The company is required to pay
a $45,000 fine, and its principals are required
to cooperate in the ongoing prosecution.
Jenicar is scheduled for sentencing on Feb.
18.
The
indictment, which is posted with the May
21, 2009 press release at www.njpublicsafety.com,
charges Vas with four distinct criminal
schemes. In addition to the campaign funding
scheme and the schemes involving Imperial
Construction and Jenicar Builders, Vas is
alleged to have stolen $5,926 from the city
by unlawfully authorizing the submission
to the city and approval of payment of a
personal medical bill for $5,322 he received
from the Mayo Clinic of Jacksonville, Fla.,
and a personal eyeglasses bill for $604
he received from Lenscrafters.
The
investigation was conducted by Deputy Attorney
General Deal, Sgt. Dino Dettorre and Detective
Benjamin Kukis. They were assisted by Lt.
Daniel O'Brien, Sgt. Robert McGrath, Detective
Lee Bailey, Detective Melissa Calkin, Detective
Lisa Cawley, Detective Shaun Egan, Detective
Kiersten Pentony, Detective Robert Stemmer
and Civil Investigator Joseph Salvatore.
In
March 2009, the Division of Criminal Justice
obtained an indictment charging Vas with
conspiring with city employees from 2003
to 2007 to fraudulently obtain payment of
approximately $5,000 from the Perth Amboy
Recreation Department for his personal expenses.
In addition, Vas and his driver, Anthony
S. Jones, 49, were charged in a scheme in
which Vas allegedly rigged a public lottery
so Jones won the opportunity to buy an affordable
home through the Perth Amboy Home Program.
Those charges are pending. The indictments
are merely accusations and the defendants
are presumed innocent until proven guilty.
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