11 NJ officials arrested on bribery charges

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NewJersey.com

FBI agents this morning rounded up 11 New Jersey public officials on bribery charges related to roofing and insurance contracts following an 18-month operation that swept the state from south to north, authorities said.

The investigation probed nearly every layer of government, beginning with the Pleasantville school board in Atlantic County, and gradually widening to include state assemblymen, mayors and current and former councilmen from Passaic and Essex counties, according to a statement from U.S. Attorney Christopher Christie.
Star-Ledger File PhotosSamuel Rivera, Mims Hackett, Jr., and Alfred E. Steele.

"This pattern of corruption infects every level of government -- from the local school board to the highest levels of state government," Christie said. "The public has had enough."

Among those charged are Samuel Rivera, the mayor of Passaic; Assemblyman Mims Hackett, Jr., who is also the mayor of Orange; Assemblyman Rev. Alfred E. Steele, who was also a Passaic County undersheriff; and Keith Reid, the chief of staff to Newark City Council President Mildred Crump. All of them are Democrats.

The probe also netted a current Passaic councilman, a former Passaic councilman and five current and former members of the Pleasantville Board of Education, authorities said.

The 11 officials are accused of accepting bribes in exchange for agreeing to steer public contracts to companies that offered insurance brokerage or roofing services to school districts and municipalities, according to criminal complaints unsealed with the arrests. The individual payments ranged from $1,500 to $17,500, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.

Christie and the FBI have made public corruption a top priority in recent years. The investigation leading to today's arrests - headed by FBI Special Agent in Charge Weysan Dun - began in mid-2006 as an inquiry into corruption in the Pleasantville School District.

The FBI set up an undercover insurance brokerage company that included undercover agents and two cooperating witnesses, one of whom had previously operated a roofing business, according to a statement released today by the U.S. Attorney's Office.

The school board members allegedly took bribes from the cooperating witnesses, and the probe widened when school board members directed the cooperating witnesses to officials in north Jersey, authorities said. They, in turn, directed investigators to other public officials, authorities said.

Trouble has long plagued the schools of Pleasantville, located about five miles west of downtown Atlantic City.

With 3,600 students, it is an Abbott District that has had 13 superintendents since 1997 -- seven of whom were on the job fewer than six months. In July, a state-appointed monitor began working with the district after years of financial and staffing turmoil. A recent investigation by an independent law firm accused past and present school board members of violating the federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act.

Today was the first day of school for the district, and although some parents were under the belief there would be an emergency school board meeting tonight, none was scheduled, Pleasantville Assistant Superintendent Gregory Allen said today. He declined to comment on the arrests.

Among those arrested today are School Board President James Pressley and board member Rafael Velez. The former board members include Jayson Adams, James McCormick and Maurice "Pete" Callaway, the brother of former Atlantic City Councilman Craig Callaway, who is currently in prison for taking bribes from an undercover FBI agent.

A 12th suspect, Louis Mister, was arrested and charged with accepting two $1,500 bribes on behalf of Callaway, authorities said.

The suspects from the Passaic City Council are Marcellus Jackson, a Democrat, and former councilman Jonathon Soto, a Republican who lost reelection in May. He teaches social studies at a middle school in Passaic and is a member of the city's redevelopment agency.

According to the criminal complaint against Jackson, after accepting one of four payments totaling $16,500, Jackson told a secret FBI informant, "I appreciate it, baby. Good things is gonna happen."

Adams, the former Pleasantville school board president, allegedly accepted a total of $15,000 in corrupt payments to help the insurance brokerage and roofing company obtain contracts from the school board. "We either gonna get this job together or go to jail together," he told a secret FBI informant during one meeting last month, according to his criminal complaint.

Following the early-morning arrests, Steele, a deputy assembly speaker since 2002, resigned his post as undersheriff as he was about to be suspended by Passaic County Sheriff Jerry Speziale, a sheriff's spokesman said.

The 12 are charged with either conspiracy to extort corrupt payments or attempting to extort corrupt payments, offenses that carry a maximum penalty of 20 years in jail. The officials made their first court appearances in Trenton this afternoon, but did not enter any pleas.

They are accused of accepting the following amounts, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office:

James Pressley - $32,200
Jayson Adams - $15,000
Marcellus Jackson - $16,500
Rafael Velez - $14,000
Rev. Alfred E. Steele - $14,000
Maurice "Pete" Callaway - $13,000
Jonathon Soto - $12,500
Keith Reid - $10,000
Mims Hackett, Jr. - $5,000 as an "up-front" payment. Hackett allegedly agreed to accept another $25,000 once Orange approved an insurance brokerage contract.
Samuel Rivera - $5,000
James McCormick- $3,500

Never underestimate the dark power of the garden state.