White Collar Crime News

Assemblyman Anthony Chiappone and His Wife Charged with Official Misconduct August 26, 2009

Another day in New Jersey, another politician indicted.  As a politician myself and a white collar crime attorney, I pay special attention to these cases.  Some people come up with amazing schemes while other people just make mistakes. I don’t know Chiappone, but this doesn’t seem like a big scheme.  Are you seriously going to throw away everything for $8000?

I really want to know how this campaign operated.  I am sure there was a treasurer that handled all of the money.  That person seems to be missing from this  press release.  In any campaign, there are many people involved and all of them need to be interviewed.

In addition, I would want to see all bank records from this campaign, other campaigns as well as personal bank accounts.  As an attorney, you not only need to know the entire scope of the case but you need to see if another hammer is going to drop at some point.  If all of the records show that this was an isolated incident, it is more likely that this was a paperwork snafu and not a big scheme to pocket money. 

Should be an interesting case, especially since Chiappone refuses to step down.  I am really skeptical about his wife’s participation in this.  In my own practice, I’ve seen the “squeeze play” before where the wife is indicted in hopes that the husband falls on the sword to save her.

TRENTON – Attorney General Anne Milgram announced that New Jersey Assemblyman Anthony Chiappone and his wife were indicted today on charges they conspired to funnel more than $8,000 in state-issued paychecks for a legislative aide and a purported aide into their own personal bank accounts and Chiappone’s 2005 Assembly campaign.

They allegedly had $7,532 in paychecks issued to one legislative aide, who donated all of his checks to the campaign. The defendants allegedly diverted $4,299 of those checks into their bank accounts for personal use, as well as a $629 paycheck issued to a woman they claimed was another legislative aide.

While the remaining checks from the male aide did get deposited into the campaign’s bank account, the defendants allegedly failed to include those contributions in reports filed with the New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission (ELEC). Chiappone, who was first elected to the Assembly in 2003, lost the Democratic primary in June 2005, but was elected to the Assembly again in November 2007. He is running for re-election in November.

“We charge that Assemblyman Chiappone and his wife conspired to have the state issue more than $8,000 in paychecks for legislative aides, knowing that the money was really destined for the couple’s own pockets or his re-election campaign,” said Attorney General Milgram. “This indictment chronicles a betrayal of the public trust by this elected official.”

According to Criminal Justice Director Deborah L. Gramiccioni, Assemblyman Chiappone, 51, of Bayonne, who represents the 31st Legislative District, and his wife, Diane Chiappone, 54, were charged in a seven-count state grand jury indictment with conspiracy (2nd degree), two counts of official misconduct (2nd degree), theft by deception (3rd degree), tampering with public records or information (3rd degree), falsifying or tampering with records (4th degree), and concealment or misrepresentation of contributions or expenditures (4th degree).

The indictment alleges that in 2005, Anthony and Diane Chiappone conspired to have 13 state paychecks totaling $7,532.96 issued to a man who was a legislative aide to Assemblyman Chiappone, knowing that the checks would actually be deposited into the personal bank accounts of the couple or the 2005 Chiappone for Assembly campaign account.

The aide, who is not named in the indictment, donated all of the paychecks he received to the 2005 Chiappone for Assembly campaign. However, instead of depositing all of the checks into the campaign’s bank account, Anthony and Diane Chiappone allegedly deposited eight of the checks totaling $4,299.32 into their own bank accounts for their personal use.

The defendants did deposit the other five paychecks totaling 3,233.64 into the 2005 Chiappone for Assembly campaign account. However, those checks were not reported in the campaign contribution and expenditure reports they filed with ELEC. Moreover, it is alleged the defendants falsely certified that contributions to the campaign did not exceed ELEC limits, even though the aide’s checks exceeded the limit of $2,600 for contributions from a single individual.

The indictment further alleges that in April 2004, Anthony and Diane Chiappone conspired to have a state paycheck in the amount of $629.47 issued to a woman who they claimed was a legislative aide to Chiappone. In fact, the woman, who is not named in the indictment, did not work as his aide. The woman endorsed the check, and the defendants allegedly deposited it into their own joint bank account.

State Warehouse Employee May Avoid Prison for Misappropriating Computer Equipment August 19, 2009

These probation with 364 deals are mostly for show.  Putting someone in jail for 364 days for non-violent offenses is a waste of tax payer money and everyone knows it.  New Jersey needs more creative sentences.  A thousand or so hours of community service would serve New Jersey much better than taking up another bed in the jail.  But since it is either prison, probation with jail or probation with no jail, the State likes probation with jail because it looks good and then they can lay off the blame on the judge when the defendant doesn’t get jail. 

TRENTON – Attorney General Anne Milgram announced that a suspended state warehouse employee pleaded guilty today for his role in misappropriating computer equipment from the Department of Treasury’s First Avenue Warehouse in Hamilton.

According to Criminal Justice Director Deborah L. Gramiccioni, Thomas Sundstrom, 67, of Southampton, pleaded guilty to third-degree official misconduct before Superior Court Judge Robert Billmeier in Mercer County.

Under the plea agreement, the state will recommend that Sundstrom be sentenced to 364 days in the county jail as a condition of a term of probation. Sundstrom was required by the state to forfeit his state job and will be permanently barred from public employment in New Jersey. He could face a fine of up to $15,000.

Judge Billmeier scheduled sentencing for Sundstrom for Oct. 29. Deputy Attorney General Anthony Picione, deputy chief of the Division of Criminal Justice Corruption Bureau, and Deputy Attorney General David M. Fritch prosecuted the case and took the guilty plea.

In pleading guilty, Sundstrom admitted that he gave computer equipment from the warehouse to people who were not entitled to receive it at the direction of the supervisor of the warehouse, David Winkler, 47, of Bordentown. Sundstrom said he gave computer equipment to a co-worker, Dominick Mangine, 45, of Jackson, who previously pleaded guilty in the case, and also gave computer equipment to juveniles who were assigned to the warehouse as part of a work study program of the Juvenile Justice Commission.

Winkler and Sundstrom were indicted on Nov. 20, 2008. The indictment charged that Winkler and Sundstrom misappropriated computer equipment for the personal use of other individuals, including other warehouse employees. Winkler was also charged with running a scheme in which he and other employees illicitly sold more than $24,000 in scrap metal and divided the proceeds between July 2005 and April 2007. Winkler and Sundstrom were suspended from their state jobs after their arrests on April 10, 2008.

Three other former warehouse employees have pleaded guilty in connection with the scrap metal scheme. They are James Mate, 49, of Yardville; Mangine; and William Gawroski III, 33, of Hamilton.

The charges resulted from a year-long investigation by the New Jersey State Police that commenced when Treasury officials obtained information that Gawroski was taking illegal payments from a recycling company in return for helping the company to secure more valuable equipment in auctions of surplus state computer equipment. The probe quickly expanded to include allegations that employees at the warehouse were taking home state-owned computers and that Winkler and other employees were taking surplus metal equipment to a non-approved recycler, selling it for cash as scrap metal, and splitting the money. The surplus metal items sold as scrap included desks, filing cabinets and other furniture and equipment.

The investigation was conducted and coordinated by Lt. Keith Dangler, Detective Sgt. 1st Class John Cappetta and Detective Sgt. Vincent Greene of the State Police State Governmental Security Bureau Investigations Unit, and Deputy Attorneys General Picione and Fritch.

Mate pleaded guilty to second-degree official misconduct and was sentenced on March 26 to three years in state prison. He and his co-defendants who pleaded guilty in the scrap metal scheme are responsible for full restitution for the thefts of $24,292. All of them forfeited their state jobs.

Mangine, who held the job of storekeeper at the warehouse, pleaded guilty to a charge of third-degree pattern of official misconduct and was sentenced on Feb. 26 to 364 days in the Mercer County Jail as a condition of two years of probation. He also was ordered to perform 50 hours of community service.

Gawroski pleaded guilty on April 11, 2008 to third-degree pattern of official misconduct. He faces probation.

The charges are pending against Winkler, who is free on $25,000 bail. The indictment charges him with conspiracy (2nd degree), two counts of official misconduct (2nd degree), theft by unlawful taking (3rd degree), and misapplication of entrusted property and property of government (3rd degree).