|
TRENTON
– In its first year under the leadership
of Attorney General Paula T. Dow, the Department
of Law and Public Safety aggressively prosecuted
corrupt public officials, successfully targeted
violent criminals, protected consumers,
combated bullying in schools and brought
hundreds of millions of dollars into state
coffers through civil litigation.
The
Department’s keynote enforcement actions,
policy directives and prevention initiatives
from 2010 are highlighted in its Annual
Report, which is now available online.
Among
noteworthy public corruption cases in 2010,
the department obtained prison sentences
against former Perth Amboy Mayor/State Assemblyman
Joseph Vas, former Irvington Mayor Michael
Steele and former Jersey City Municipal
Court Administrator Virginia Pagan. In the
continuing fight against street gangs and
violent crime, the Department secured prison
sentences against 128 defendants and obtained
criminal indictments against members and
leaders of various “Bloods”
gang factions, including the first indictment
under New Jersey’s new Gang Criminality
Statute.
Department
lawyers obtained more than $195 million
in recoveries and judgments on behalf of
the State in 2010 – a 31 percent increase
over the prior year. Included among the
recoveries were $81 million recovered through
environmental litigation and $39 million
recovered from litigation related to securities
fraud, consumer fraud and insurance fraud.
At
the same time, the department engaged in
a thorough self-examination aimed at cutting
costs without compromising effectiveness.
Among other things, Attorney General Dow
and her leadership team reviewed the core
mission of each division while also examining
their management structure, staffing levels,
technology and other issues. As a result,
the Department was able to achieve many
crime-fighting and other successes while
heeding Governor Chris Christie’s
call for across-the-board austerity.
“We
understand that state resources are stretched,
as are the resources of many hard-working
New Jersey residents,” said Dow. “But
we also take seriously our duty to protect
the public, ensure integrity in government
and carry out every other aspect of the
department’s mission with vigor. Our
commitment is to meet the economic challenges
that confront us without compromising our
standards in any way.”
Among
its efforts on behalf of New Jersey residents
in 2010 the Department of Law and Public
Safety:
- Obtained
an eight-year prison sentence against
former State Assemblyman and former Perth
Amboy Mayor Vas, who solicited an illegal
payment from a city vendor and illegally
funneled money into his congressional
campaign via straw donors; a seven-year
sentence against former Irvington Mayor
Steele, who took kickbacks from contractors
while serving as business administrator
for the Irvington schools; a three-year
prison term against former Jersey City
Municipal Court Administrator Virginia
Pagan, who admitted to fixing hundreds
of parking tickets; the forfeiture of
office of former Assemblyman Anthony Chiappone,
who admitted to filing false reports with
the Election Law Enforcement Commission.
- Obtained
a five-year prison sentence against former
Assemblyman Neil Cohen, who admitted to
viewing and printing child pornography
on a computer in his legislative office.
- Secured
convictions and prison sentences against
individuals responsible for more than
$16 million in fraud including investment
fraud, embezzlement and identity theft.
- Took
legal action to protect students by holding
schools accountable for preventing bullying.
Among other actions, Findings of Probable
Cause were issued against two school districts
– Old Bridge and Emerson -- accused
of failing to protect students who had
been bullied and harassed for years.
- Resolved
three major civil prosecutions of mortgage
foreclosure “rescue” fraud,
resulting in defendant payments of $17
million in penalties, judgments, restitution
and other fees.
- ·
Fought traditional organized crime, obtaining
a major indictment charging the Lucchese
crime family hierarchy with running an
illegal sports betting network that employed
violence and extortion and, in a separate
case, joining with the Waterfront Commission
of New York Harbor to arrest a top official
of the International Longshoremen’s
Association, three ILA members, and a
Newark police officer in an alleged scheme
to extort money from dock workers.
- Obtained
indictments charging nine defendants in
connection with illegal gun trafficking.
The indictments were obtained as the result
of a cooperative investigation with the
U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms
and Explosives. One indictment outlined
a network that allegedly trafficked firearms
from the Eastern Shore of Virginia to
Trenton, where they were allegedly sold
to gang members and other criminals.
- Spearheaded
the Fugitive Safe Surrender program in
Central New Jersey. The four-day initiative
resulted in approximately 4,000 fugitives
surrendering, voluntarily, to authorities
on outstanding warrants for predominantly
non-violent crimes.
- Achieved
a 170 percent increase, compared with
the prior year, in the amount of civil
monetary penalties executed by the Office
of the Insurance Fraud Prosecutor. OIFP
also increased both the number of indictments
filed and the number of defendants charged
in 2010.
- Implemented
a statewide Summer Warrant SWEEP initiative
resulting in the arrests of more than
1,100 high-risk parole and probation absconders
during the months of July and August,
when violent and property crimes tend
to peak.
- Protected
investors by settling four Auction Rate
Securities cases. The four companies repurchased
$1.1 billion in Auction Rate Securities
held by New Jersey investors and paid
the N.J. Bureau of Securities $7.2 million
in penalties for failing to disclose the
risks of Auction Rate Securities to investors.
- Provided
emergency assistance to thousands of residents
and motorists during four federally-declared
natural disasters. During the December
2010 blizzard, State Police handled 1,077
accidents and provided emergency assistance
to an additional 2,889 motorists.
### |
