Carol Lynn Palma, suspended Cliffside Park Deputy Clerk guilty of official misconduct April 19, 2009
Posted by tsclaw2209 in News.Tags: Carol Lynn Palma, Crime, Law, New Jersey, News, official misconduct, theft, theft by deception
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Carol Lynn Palma, Cliffside Park official found guilty
Suspended Cliffside Park Deputy Clerk Carol Lynn Palma was found guilty of official misconduct for skimming $56,000 to work Board of Education elections. She was also convicted of theft, failure to pay taxes on the income and filing false tax returns. The jury returned not guilty verdicts for one charge each of falsifying records and theft by deception.
Former Superintendent and Business Administrator Robert Paladino and a former Borough Clerk Brian McGuirt testified against her during the trial. Both men had reached deals to avoid prison prior to Palma being indicted. Why Palma did not make some type of deal is unknown, but I can only imagine that she had a pre-indictment offer but declined.
In addition to the two co-defendants that testified against her, another problem here was the tax issue. Any argument you make as a defense attorney is seriously damaged by the failure to report and pay taxes on the money that she got here because that makes it seem like she was trying to hide it. Normally, other crime evidence is kept out of the trial, but this was part of the overall criminal activity so it comes in. Story on Carol Lynn Palma is here.
White Collar Crime News 
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