5 cops fired after being accused of drug raid without warrant
Updated Feb 12; Posted Feb 12
By Anthony G. Attrino
tattrino@njadvancemedia.com,
NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
Five Hackensack police officers accused of searching an apartment without a warrant during a drug raid in December 2016 have been fired, officials said.
The warrantless search on Prospect Avenue prompted the Bergen County Prosecutor's Office to drop charges against defendants in eight criminal cases.
"These five officers betrayed their oath and brought dishonor to the Hackensack Police Department and terminating them today is the only justified and reasonable action that we can take to bring this matter to a close," City Manager Ted Ehrenburg said in a statement.
The police officers have been identified as Det. Rocco Duardo, Det. Mark Gutierrez, Det. Joseph Gonzales, Sgt. Justin de la Bruyere and officer Victor Vazquez.
The five were among seven Hackensack police officers accused of illegally entering an apartment without a search warrant or probable cause.
Two of the original seven - high-ranking officers in the Hackensack Police Department - retired before a disciplinary hearing could be held.
All of the officers involved said they were conducting a narcotics investigation.
In a police report, the officers claimed they knocked on a door but there was no answer. However, surveillance video showed the officers appearing to pick locks.
An internal affairs probe showed the cops had no cause for a search.
Ehrenburg's action to fire the officers came after a recommendation last week by a hearing officer to terminate four of the officers and to suspend a fifth.
The city manager, who has final administrative authority, decided to terminate all five, finding the dismissals were in the "best interests of the city and the HPD," the statement said.
Ehrenburg said the terminations are allowable under state law.
N.J. Attorney General Gurbir S. Grewal, who at the time was the county prosecutor, said the illegal search undermined the officers' credibility as law enforcement witnesses.
As a result, Grewal said he had no choice but to drop charges against 17 suspects in eight criminal cases.
At least one former officer, Rocco Duardo, has sued Ehrenburg, the police department and the prosecutor's office, claiming his legal rights have been violated.
Duardo's attorney, Charles Sciarra of Clifton, did not immediately return a call seeking comment. The other officers or their attorneys were not immediately available for comment on Monday.
=====================
Surveillance footage from a building on Prospect Ave. in Hackensack
appears to show seven police officers gaining entry to an apartment in
Dec. of 2016.
NorthJersey.com
On
a cool winter day last December — three days after Christmas — seven
Hackensack police officers approached the front door of the Sheldon
Arms, an apartment building at 64 Prospect Ave.
Six
of them were wearing plainclothes — some in hooded sweatshirts; others
in heavy winter jackets. Only one of the officers was wearing
a uniform.
The uniformed officer,
Victor Vasquez, tried to open the lobby door to no avail. A detective in
a black baseball cap then inspected the door handle, crouched by it and
20 seconds later, the door opened.
He pocketed
what appears to be a tool and the seven officers poured into the lobby.
The officers split up as they traveled to the third floor: three of them
took the elevator, the others climbed the building's staircase. Once on
the third floor, the team went to one end of the third-floor hallway,
then doubled back. One of the officers then pointed to an apartment
door.
That door was the entry to apartment C7.
Once again, one of the officers, after kicking away a welcome mat, knelt
in front of the door and set to work on the lock. Minutes
later, several officers entered the apartment.
These
scenes were captured by surveillance cameras inside the building. The
video clips, acquired by NorthJersey.com and The Record through a public
records request, are now a key piece of evidence in an internal affairs
investigation probing six of the seven officers. The six officers are
facing disciplinary charges for allegedly mishandling evidence,
illegally entering the apartment building and conducting a warrantless
search of apartment C7 at the Sheldon Arms.
As a result, Bergen County Prosecutor Gurbir Grewal decided to dismiss eight separate narcotics cases involving 16 defendants including a known gang member
and others with prior convictions and violent histories because they
were connected to the officers involved with the search. An unknown
number of municipal court cases are also in danger of being dismissed.
Disciplinary action sought
Grewal
has no plans to bring the officers to
trial, but city officials are moving forward with administrative charges
against the six officers who remain employed by the city and who are
all suspended from the force. The goal for the city's administration is
to fire the six officers, said Raymond Wiss, Hackensack's labor
attorney.
“In all likelihood, there would have been
disciplinary hearings, irrespective of the Prosecutor’s decision,” said
Wiss. “The city is trying to effectuate the termination of these
officers."
The suspended officers are Capt.
Vincent Riotto, Det. Sgt. Justin De La Bruyere, detectives Mark
Gutierrez, Joseph Gonzalez, Rocco Duardo and Vazquez. Vazquez was the
only officer not assigned to the narcotics unit. Lt. Scott Sybel, who
was with the officers in December during the search, retired earlier
this year.
When
he made his decision to dismiss the eight criminal cases, all of which
involved an officer from the narcotics unit, Grewal informed the police
administration in a letter that his office would not pursue criminal
charges against the seven officers. He wrote to Capt. Frank Aquila that
seven officers' conduct during the search undermined their credibility
as law enforcement witnesses.
“My only comment is
that we don’t have a comment on that,” Grewal told NorthJersey.com and
The Record when asked about the release of the video. “We don’t have a
comment beyond what we said in the letters, which you already have.”
Footage contradicts report
The
video clips, which contain no audio, appear to contradict the sequence
of events laid out in a police report dated Dec. 28, 2016, and prepared
by Gutierrez. According to the report, the officers, who were checking
on unspecified "narcotic activity" entered the building and were told
about an unattended child in apartment C7 by a man who wished to remain
anonymous, so they tried to get into the apartment.
In
contrast to the video, Gutierrez's report says that the officers found
the door to C7 unlocked, so they went in to check for an unattended
child. They didn't find one, so they left the apartment and the
building.
The internal affairs investigation of
the officers was triggered by an anonymous letter that alleged a
cover-up by Riotto, the ranking officer of the narcotics unit. The
letter specifically referenced 64 Prospect Ave.
"Well,
when I was reading, reviewing the video with the actual report, it
just, no one ever, I never saw anybody approach anyone," Capt.
Peter Busciglio testified during a May administrative hearing. "They
went directly to C7. It was just the more I looked at it and the more I
looked at the video, you know there were people left out of the
report."
After reviewing Gutierrez’s report,
comparing it with surveillance footage and interviewing
witnesses, Busciglio, the lead investigator in the internal affairs
investigation, determined that the officers had entered the apartment
without cause or a warrant.
“I conclude that
several officers of the Hackensack Police Narcotics Bureau, along with
Officer Victor Vazquez, responded to 64 Prospect Avenue and illegally
entered the building to conduct, or conspired to conduct, an illegal
entry and search of apartment C7 without a search warrant or other legal
justification,” said Busciglio in the internal affairs investigation
report.
Busciglio's report and the transcript of
the hearing were included with other documents, with the exception of
the videos, related to the internal affairs investigation into the
search in a lawsuit filed by Det. Rocco Duardo that claims the
Prosecutor’s Office declared Duardo a “Brady officer” — a cop whose
record of lying in an official capacity requires the prosecutor to
notify defendants and their attorneys — without sufficient proof.
During
the hearing in which Busciglio testifed, attorneys for the officers
said their clients were going to the apartment building because they
believed they were going to confront someone involved with the illegal
sale of guns and drugs, according to a transcript of the hearing.
“We
were not just going around to sniff around for narcotic activity,” said
Joseph Afflitto, Riotto’s attorney, in a phone interview Wednesday.
“They didn’t go there randomly en masse to sniff around to see if
somebody in that building might have drugs.”
No disputing participation
With the
exception of Afflito, the attorneys representing
the five other officers did not return calls for comment. But during the
hearing in May none of the attorneys disputed that
their clients participated in the search. They did, however, quibble as
to the extent their clients participated in the search.
Frank Arleo,
who represents Vasquez, said the uniformed patrolman was only present
at the scene and was not involved. He called Vasquez the “low man on the
totem pole.” Arleo also says that Vasquez never approaches apartment C7
and is down the hall when entry is made.
The video appears to show Vasquez, the lone uniformed officer, entering the apartment.
Riotto is
seen entering the building and approaching
the apartment door, but he is not seen entering the
apartment. Afflitto said that Riotto was only there for supervision.
“He
was there, but he was not there,”Afflitto said. “He was not there when
the men went into the apartment, he was not there when the men exited
the apartment. He did not participate in the decision to enter the
apartment.”
None of the attorneys representing the
officers dispute that the search occurred without a
warrant. James Patuto, who represents Gutierrez, called the search a
"non-intentional Constitutional violation of the 4th Amendment,"
according to the transcript.
"They went in, they didn't do anything wrong when they're in there, they came out," Patuto said.
In
the hearing, De La Bruyere's attorney James Horn said that calling
motives of the officers into question for unsuccessful investigations
would be a “slippery slope.” The video appears to show De La Bruyere
picking the lock of the door to the building.
“When
I was trained in the Police Academy, when you were trained in the
Police academy, we were instructed you don’t have to be right,” said
Horn at the hearing. “You have to be reasonable.”
Aquila,
the officer-in-charge of the city police, and Ted Ehrenberg, the city
manager, declined to comment on the release of the video.
Riotto is apparently seen
entering the building and approaching the apartment, but is not seen
entering the apartment. Afflitto said that Riotto was only there for
supervision.
“He was there, but he was not there,”
said Afflitto. “He was not there when the men went into the apartment,
he was not there when the men exited the apartment. He did not
participate in the decision to enter the apartment.”
========================
Dr. Basilis N. Stephanatos, Ph.D., P.E., J.D., Q.E.D.
THE SERIOUSLY UNCONSTITUTIONAL AND ILLEGAL CASE OF STATE V. BASILIS STEPHANATOS
Tax foreclosure companies in New Jersey (American Tax Funding, LLC, and others see for example this link: https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/two-new-jersey-investors-plead-guilty-their-roles-bid-rigging-schemes-municipal-tax-lien) failed to follow the Anti-eviction laws and the Summary Dispossess Act and obtained a writ for removal without a hearing before a law-division judge - they basically used a self-certification and fooled the Office of Foreclosure in Trenton that had no jurisdiction over his real estate property as he had objected to the legal proceedings and no issues were ever adjudicated.
American Tax Funding, LLC, Robert Del Vecchio, Esq. and others also lied to the sheriff that he had threatened them with violence if they try to evict him from his home that he fully owned (no mortgage on the home). The sheriff then lied to the grand jurors that he displayed a gun at them and lied that they were injured.
In any event, five years ago, the grand jury indicts Dr. Stephanatos based on the fraudulent grand jury presentation and the willful failure to disclose to the Grand Jury clearly exculpatory evidence. In 2011, Dr. Stephanatos asked for speedy trial, but that never happened.
In early 2016, Dr. Stephanatos had been publishing in a blog the proceedings of the meritless criminal case against him. Based on the publishing, a good Samaritan came forward who provided evidence that Dr. Stephanatos was framed by Passaic County sheriff officers Lucas and d'Agostino. In his blog, Dr. Stephanatos has been complaining about the violation of hisspeedy trial rights: the delay of the case is now at 6.5 years and running!
In March 2016, and in order to prevent the spreading of the truth, the Passaic county prosecutor, Peter Roby, then claimed that Dr. Stephanatos was crazy and that he must be submitted for psychiatric evaluation. He also claimed that the State’s witnesses could be threatened by Dr. Stephanatos.
Dr. Stephanatos' lawyer, Mr. Miles Feinstein, Esq of Clifton, NJ vehemently opposed the incarceration as violative of his first amendment rights, etc. In any event, they locked him up at the Bergen county jail from March 21, 2016 through May 25, 2016. During the last two weeks of his jail time, a state physiologist came and evaluated him. He found him intelligent, sane and competent. When Dr. Stephanatos asked him why it took them two months to show-up at the jail to evaluate him, he said he only got the assignment during the last week of April 2016.
Dr. Stephanatos then filed a complaint against judge de la Carrera (the judge who ordered his incarceration) with the presiding judge Ernest Capossela. Judge Capossela immediately dismissed Judge de la Carrera from the case and started presiding over the case on his own. He said that what de la Carrera and Passaic county prosecutor, Peter Roby, did was illegal and unconstitutional, as no threats were ever made by Dr. Stephanatos against anyone. All this stuff is in on the record. He made these statements and much more in open court on May 26, 2016 when he ordered Dr. Stephanatos' release.
After more than five years on bail, the accuser, Ronald A. Lucas (a sheriff employee) is convicted for insurance fraud for faking his injury. The judge in Dr. Stephanatos' case is fired by the assignment judge, who then proceeds to dismiss the case for a number of reasons: violation of speedy trial rights, perjured testimony, failure to provide discovery, misleading the grand jury, prosecutorial misconduct.
Dr. Stephanatos suffered significant economic and non-economic losses. Many millions in damages.
In addition to the loss of his freedom and the loss of his dignity, he also lost income, family time, etc. You can understand.
The criminal case against Dr. Stephanatos is meritless, that is why it has been delayed for 5.5 years and counting. They have not even provided discovery!
Here are some links regarding Dr. Stephanatos' criminal case:
http://metroforensics.blogspot.com/2016/03/explosive-bombshell-ronald-lucas.html
https://metroforensics.blogspot.com/2016/03/proofs-that-ron-lucas-was-not-at-scene_17.html
http://metroforensics.blogspot.com/2015/12/perjured-employees-and-prosecutorial.html
http://metroforensics.blogspot.com/2016/03/is-passaic-county-sheriff-richard_13.html
http://metroforensics.blogspot.com/2016/03/the-corrupt-andor-incompetent-chancery.html
http://metroforensics.blogspot.com/2016/01/walter-dewey-jr-of-passaic-county_14.html
https://sites.google.com/site/metropolitanenvironmental/explosive-bombshell-ronald-a-lucas-defrauded-new-jersey-s-police-and-firemen-system-by-claiming-that-he-suffered-on-the-job-injury
=================
As part of an investigation we have been performing, we discovered that Ronald A. Lucas, a former Passaic County sheriff officer with the Civil Division lied about his on-the-job shoulder injury. Lucas claimed that he fell on the job on June 28, 2011 at 687 Indian Road, Wayne, NJ and that he injured his left shoulder requiring several pins. He then filed a disability claim with the New Jersey Division of Pensions and Benefits (Police and Firemen Retirement System). He was granted disability for one year with subsequent review. After he retired with claimed disability, he obtained a job as part-time security guard at the Pequannock High School.
We discovered that Mr. Lucas suffered shoulder injuries while playing football and lifting heavy weights over his lifetime. He was a linebacker with the Pompton Lakes Cardinals, using his shoulder to hit and tackle his opponents during practice and during football games. We are attaching a picture showing that he was #41 in the Cardinal’s Pompton Lake football team. Lucas has fallen on his shoulder probably thousand times during his athletic and training career.
Everybody knows that linebackers hit and tackle their opponents using their shoulders. These athletes also lift heavy weights and they end-up injuries their shoulders. He even made the All County Team in 1980, showing how hard he was working out. Based on our investigation, we found that weight lifting athletes do suffer shoulder injuries of the type claimed by Lucas.
He also trained his two sons (Dean Lucas and Ronnie Lucas) into playing TE and DE positions also with the Cardinals football team. In fact, linebackers suffer at least 13.5 percent of all football injuries and at least 65 percent of the linebackers end up undergoing surgery.
We have obtained photos showing Mr. Lucas lifting weights, after his alleged job-ending disability. See for example the attached image that is dated December 2013.
It is obvious to a reasonable and objective person that Lucas (in his mid-50s) took this incident on June 28, 2011 to claim on-the job-injury to be able to repair his previously injured shoulder at taxpayers’ expense and to retire and then blame Basilis Stephanatos for his injuries. After he retired, he started the double dipping. The finest of New Jersey at "work". But he was caught and he will face the consequences.
=====================
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Monday, September 30, 2013
Two New Jersey Investors Plead Guilty for Their Roles in Bid-rigging Schemes at Municipal Tax Lien Auctions
Investigation Has Yielded 14 Guilty Pleas
Two financial investors who purchased municipal tax liens pleaded guilty today for their roles in a conspiracy to rig bids at auctions conducted by New Jersey municipalities for the sale of those tax liens, the Department of Justice announced.
A felony charge was filed today in U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey in Newark, against Robert U. Del Vecchio Sr., of Hawthorne, N.J. According to the charge, from in or about 2000 until approximately December 2008, Del Vecchio Sr. participated in a conspiracy to rig bids at auctions for the sale of municipal tax liens in New Jersey by agreeing to allocate among certain bidders which liens each would bid on. Additionally, a felony charge was filed today in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey in Newark, against Michael Mastellone, of Cedar Knolls, N.J. for participating in a similar conspiracy from in or about 2000 until approximately February 2009. The department said that Del Vecchio Sr. and Mastellone proceeded to submit bids in accordance with the agreements and purchased tax liens at collusive and non-competitive interest rates.
“By conspiring to rig the bids of municipal tax liens, the conspirators profited at the expense of those already struggling financially,” said Scott D. Hammond, Deputy Assistant Attorney General for the Antitrust Division’s criminal enforcement program. “Protecting Americans from these types of bid-rigging schemes remains a high priority for the division.”
The department said the primary purpose of the conspiracy was to suppress and restrain competition in order to obtain selected municipal tax liens offered at public auctions at non-competitive interest rates. When the owner of real property fails to pay taxes on that property, the municipality in which the property is located may attach a lien for the amount of the unpaid taxes. If the taxes remain unpaid after a waiting period, the lien may be sold at auction. State law requires that investors bid on the interest rate delinquent property owners will pay upon redemption. By law, the bid opens at 18 percent interest and, through a competitive bidding process, can be driven down to zero percent. If a lien remains unpaid after a certain period of time, the investor who purchased the lien may begin foreclosure proceedings against the property to which the lien is attached.
According to the court documents, Del Vecchio Sr. and Mastellone were involved in the conspiracy with others not to bid against one another at municipal tax lien auctions in New Jersey. Since the conspiracy permitted the conspirators to purchase tax liens with limited competition, each conspirator was able to obtain liens which earned a higher interest rate. Property owners were therefore made to pay higher interest on their tax debts than they would have paid had their liens been purchased in open and honest competition, the department said.
A violation of the Sherman Act carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a $1 million fine for individuals. The maximum fine for a Sherman Act violation may be increased to twice the gain derived from the crime or twice the loss suffered by the victims if either amount is greater than the $1 million statutory maximum.
Today’s pleas are the 13th and 14th guilty pleas resulting from an ongoing investigation into bid rigging or fraud related to municipal tax lien auctions. Nine individuals – Isadore H. May, Richard J. Pisciotta Jr., William A. Collins, Robert W. Stein, David M. Farber, Robert E. Rothman, Stephen E. Hruby, David Butler and Norman T. Remick – and three companies – DSBD LLC, Crusader Servicing Corp. and Mercer S.M.E. Inc. – have previously pleaded guilty as part of this investigation.
Today’s charges were brought in connection with the President’s Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force. The task force was established to wage an aggressive, coordinated and proactive effort to investigate and prosecute financial crimes. With more than 20 federal agencies, 94 U.S. attorneys’ offices and state and local partners, it’s the broadest coalition of law enforcement, investigatory and regulatory agencies ever assembled to combat fraud. Since its formation, the task force has made great strides in facilitating increased investigation and prosecution of financial crimes; enhancing coordination and cooperation among federal, state and local authorities; addressing discrimination in the lending and financial markets and conducting outreach to the public, victims, financial institutions and other organizations. Over the past three fiscal years, the Justice Department has filed nearly 10,000 financial fraud cases against nearly 15,000 defendants including more than 2,900 mortgage fraud defendants. For more information on the task force, please visit www.StopFraud.gov.
This ongoing investigation is being conducted by the Antitrust Division’s New York Office and the FBI’s Atlantic City, N.J., office. Anyone with information concerning bid rigging or fraud related to municipal tax lien auctions should contact the Antitrust Division’s New York Office at 212-335-8000, visit www.justice.gov/atr/contact/newcase.htm or contact the Atlantic City Resident Agency of the FBI at 609-677-6400.
========================
CORRUPTION IN NEW JERSEY'S JUDICIARY AND LEGAL SYSTEM: Passaic County prosecutor Peter Roby and Judge Miguel De la Carrera collude and throw innocent man in jail after he discovered conspiracy against him by Passaic County sheriff. Their reckless and illegal decision was overturned by the Assignment Judge Ernest Caposela
Dr. Basilis N. Stephanatos, Ph.D., P.E., J.D., Q.E.D.
THE SERIOUSLY UNCONSTITUTIONAL AND ILLEGAL CASE OF STATE V. BASILIS STEPHANATOS
Tax foreclosure companies in New Jersey (American Tax Funding, LLC, and others see for example this link: https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/two-new-jersey-investors-plead-guilty-their-roles-bid-rigging-schemes-municipal-tax-lien) failed to follow the Anti-eviction laws and the Summary Dispossess Act and obtained a writ for removal without a hearing before a law-division judge - they basically used a self-certification and fooled the Office of Foreclosure in Trenton that had no jurisdiction over his real estate property as he had objected to the legal proceedings and no issues were ever adjudicated.
American Tax Funding, LLC, Robert Del Vecchio, Esq. and others also lied to the sheriff that he had threatened them with violence if they try to evict him from his home that he fully owned (no mortgage on the home). The sheriff then lied to the grand jurors that he displayed a gun at them and lied that they were injured.
In any event, five years ago, the grand jury indicts Dr. Stephanatos based on the fraudulent grand jury presentation and the willful failure to disclose to the Grand Jury clearly exculpatory evidence. In 2011, Dr. Stephanatos asked for speedy trial, but that never happened.
In early 2016, Dr. Stephanatos had been publishing in a blog the proceedings of the meritless criminal case against him. Based on the publishing, a good Samaritan came forward who provided evidence that Dr. Stephanatos was framed by Passaic County sheriff officers Lucas and d'Agostino. In his blog, Dr. Stephanatos has been complaining about the violation of hisspeedy trial rights: the delay of the case is now at 6.5 years and running!
In March 2016, and in order to prevent the spreading of the truth, the Passaic county prosecutor, Peter Roby, then claimed that Dr. Stephanatos was crazy and that he must be submitted for psychiatric evaluation. He also claimed that the State’s witnesses could be threatened by Dr. Stephanatos.
Dr. Stephanatos' lawyer, Mr. Miles Feinstein, Esq of Clifton, NJ vehemently opposed the incarceration as violative of his first amendment rights, etc. In any event, they locked him up at the Bergen county jail from March 21, 2016 through May 25, 2016. During the last two weeks of his jail time, a state physiologist came and evaluated him. He found him intelligent, sane and competent. When Dr. Stephanatos asked him why it took them two months to show-up at the jail to evaluate him, he said he only got the assignment during the last week of April 2016.
Dr. Stephanatos then filed a complaint against judge de la Carrera (the judge who ordered his incarceration) with the presiding judge Ernest Capossela. Judge Capossela immediately dismissed Judge de la Carrera from the case and started presiding over the case on his own. He said that what de la Carrera and Passaic county prosecutor, Peter Roby, did was illegal and unconstitutional, as no threats were ever made by Dr. Stephanatos against anyone. All this stuff is in on the record. He made these statements and much more in open court on May 26, 2016 when he ordered Dr. Stephanatos' release.
After more than five years on bail, the accuser, Ronald A. Lucas (a sheriff employee) is convicted for insurance fraud for faking his injury. The judge in Dr. Stephanatos' case is fired by the assignment judge, who then proceeds to dismiss the case for a number of reasons: violation of speedy trial rights, perjured testimony, failure to provide discovery, misleading the grand jury, prosecutorial misconduct.
Dr. Stephanatos suffered significant economic and non-economic losses. Many millions in damages.
In addition to the loss of his freedom and the loss of his dignity, he also lost income, family time, etc. You can understand.
The criminal case against Dr. Stephanatos is meritless, that is why it has been delayed for 5.5 years and counting. They have not even provided discovery!
Here are some links regarding Dr. Stephanatos' criminal case:
http://metroforensics.blogspot.com/2016/03/explosive-bombshell-ronald-lucas.html
https://metroforensics.blogspot.com/2016/03/proofs-that-ron-lucas-was-not-at-scene_17.html
http://metroforensics.blogspot.com/2015/12/perjured-employees-and-prosecutorial.html
http://metroforensics.blogspot.com/2016/03/is-passaic-county-sheriff-richard_13.html
http://metroforensics.blogspot.com/2016/03/the-corrupt-andor-incompetent-chancery.html
http://metroforensics.blogspot.com/2016/01/walter-dewey-jr-of-passaic-county_14.html
https://sites.google.com/site/metropolitanenvironmental/explosive-bombshell-ronald-a-lucas-defrauded-new-jersey-s-police-and-firemen-system-by-claiming-that-he-suffered-on-the-job-injury
=================
FORMER PASSAIC COUNTY SHERIFF OFFICER RONALD A. LUCAS LIED DURING HIS GRAND JURY TESTIMONY WHEN HE CLAIMED THAT HE INJURED HIS LEFT SHOULDER DURING A FALL AT A WAYNE TOWNSHIP, NEW JERSEY PROPERTY. HE IN FACT HAD PRIOR INJURIES BY PLAYING FOOTBALL FOR MANY YEARS AND LIFTING WEIGHTS
As part of an investigation we have been performing, we discovered that Ronald A. Lucas, a former Passaic County sheriff officer with the Civil Division lied about his on-the-job shoulder injury. Lucas claimed that he fell on the job on June 28, 2011 at 687 Indian Road, Wayne, NJ and that he injured his left shoulder requiring several pins. He then filed a disability claim with the New Jersey Division of Pensions and Benefits (Police and Firemen Retirement System). He was granted disability for one year with subsequent review. After he retired with claimed disability, he obtained a job as part-time security guard at the Pequannock High School.
We discovered that Mr. Lucas suffered shoulder injuries while playing football and lifting heavy weights over his lifetime. He was a linebacker with the Pompton Lakes Cardinals, using his shoulder to hit and tackle his opponents during practice and during football games. We are attaching a picture showing that he was #41 in the Cardinal’s Pompton Lake football team. Lucas has fallen on his shoulder probably thousand times during his athletic and training career.
Everybody knows that linebackers hit and tackle their opponents using their shoulders. These athletes also lift heavy weights and they end-up injuries their shoulders. He even made the All County Team in 1980, showing how hard he was working out. Based on our investigation, we found that weight lifting athletes do suffer shoulder injuries of the type claimed by Lucas.
He also trained his two sons (Dean Lucas and Ronnie Lucas) into playing TE and DE positions also with the Cardinals football team. In fact, linebackers suffer at least 13.5 percent of all football injuries and at least 65 percent of the linebackers end up undergoing surgery.
We have obtained photos showing Mr. Lucas lifting weights, after his alleged job-ending disability. See for example the attached image that is dated December 2013.
It is obvious to a reasonable and objective person that Lucas (in his mid-50s) took this incident on June 28, 2011 to claim on-the job-injury to be able to repair his previously injured shoulder at taxpayers’ expense and to retire and then blame Basilis Stephanatos for his injuries. After he retired, he started the double dipping. The finest of New Jersey at "work". But he was caught and he will face the consequences.
=====================
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Monday, September 30, 2013
Two New Jersey Investors Plead Guilty for Their Roles in Bid-rigging Schemes at Municipal Tax Lien Auctions
Investigation Has Yielded 14 Guilty Pleas
Two financial investors who purchased municipal tax liens pleaded guilty today for their roles in a conspiracy to rig bids at auctions conducted by New Jersey municipalities for the sale of those tax liens, the Department of Justice announced.
A felony charge was filed today in U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey in Newark, against Robert U. Del Vecchio Sr., of Hawthorne, N.J. According to the charge, from in or about 2000 until approximately December 2008, Del Vecchio Sr. participated in a conspiracy to rig bids at auctions for the sale of municipal tax liens in New Jersey by agreeing to allocate among certain bidders which liens each would bid on. Additionally, a felony charge was filed today in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey in Newark, against Michael Mastellone, of Cedar Knolls, N.J. for participating in a similar conspiracy from in or about 2000 until approximately February 2009. The department said that Del Vecchio Sr. and Mastellone proceeded to submit bids in accordance with the agreements and purchased tax liens at collusive and non-competitive interest rates.
“By conspiring to rig the bids of municipal tax liens, the conspirators profited at the expense of those already struggling financially,” said Scott D. Hammond, Deputy Assistant Attorney General for the Antitrust Division’s criminal enforcement program. “Protecting Americans from these types of bid-rigging schemes remains a high priority for the division.”
The department said the primary purpose of the conspiracy was to suppress and restrain competition in order to obtain selected municipal tax liens offered at public auctions at non-competitive interest rates. When the owner of real property fails to pay taxes on that property, the municipality in which the property is located may attach a lien for the amount of the unpaid taxes. If the taxes remain unpaid after a waiting period, the lien may be sold at auction. State law requires that investors bid on the interest rate delinquent property owners will pay upon redemption. By law, the bid opens at 18 percent interest and, through a competitive bidding process, can be driven down to zero percent. If a lien remains unpaid after a certain period of time, the investor who purchased the lien may begin foreclosure proceedings against the property to which the lien is attached.
According to the court documents, Del Vecchio Sr. and Mastellone were involved in the conspiracy with others not to bid against one another at municipal tax lien auctions in New Jersey. Since the conspiracy permitted the conspirators to purchase tax liens with limited competition, each conspirator was able to obtain liens which earned a higher interest rate. Property owners were therefore made to pay higher interest on their tax debts than they would have paid had their liens been purchased in open and honest competition, the department said.
A violation of the Sherman Act carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a $1 million fine for individuals. The maximum fine for a Sherman Act violation may be increased to twice the gain derived from the crime or twice the loss suffered by the victims if either amount is greater than the $1 million statutory maximum.
Today’s pleas are the 13th and 14th guilty pleas resulting from an ongoing investigation into bid rigging or fraud related to municipal tax lien auctions. Nine individuals – Isadore H. May, Richard J. Pisciotta Jr., William A. Collins, Robert W. Stein, David M. Farber, Robert E. Rothman, Stephen E. Hruby, David Butler and Norman T. Remick – and three companies – DSBD LLC, Crusader Servicing Corp. and Mercer S.M.E. Inc. – have previously pleaded guilty as part of this investigation.
Today’s charges were brought in connection with the President’s Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force. The task force was established to wage an aggressive, coordinated and proactive effort to investigate and prosecute financial crimes. With more than 20 federal agencies, 94 U.S. attorneys’ offices and state and local partners, it’s the broadest coalition of law enforcement, investigatory and regulatory agencies ever assembled to combat fraud. Since its formation, the task force has made great strides in facilitating increased investigation and prosecution of financial crimes; enhancing coordination and cooperation among federal, state and local authorities; addressing discrimination in the lending and financial markets and conducting outreach to the public, victims, financial institutions and other organizations. Over the past three fiscal years, the Justice Department has filed nearly 10,000 financial fraud cases against nearly 15,000 defendants including more than 2,900 mortgage fraud defendants. For more information on the task force, please visit www.StopFraud.gov.
This ongoing investigation is being conducted by the Antitrust Division’s New York Office and the FBI’s Atlantic City, N.J., office. Anyone with information concerning bid rigging or fraud related to municipal tax lien auctions should contact the Antitrust Division’s New York Office at 212-335-8000, visit www.justice.gov/atr/contact/newcase.htm or contact the Atlantic City Resident Agency of the FBI at 609-677-6400.
