Former West Long Branch Councilman Indicted; New Charges of Illegal Cash, Campaign Contributions Alleged

NEWARK – A Former West Long Branch councilman was indicted today for conspiring with another public official to accept corrupt cash payments and campaign contributions totaling approximately $15,500 from an unnamed developer and an associate who were seeking influence and approval to construct a drugstore in West Long Branch, U.S. Attorney Christopher J. Christie announced.

Joseph DeLisa, 49, was also charged with conspiring and attempting to accept bribes from a cooperating government witness, whom the councilman believed was involved in legitimate construction and demolition work and illegal money laundering and loansharking. An arraignment date will be set for DeLisa to appear in court.

“Our investigation into corruption in Monmouth County continues,” Christie said. “As the charges in the Indictment allege, DeLisa and other officials opened their hands to the influence of cash and campaign money from others wishing to corrupt the proper and lawful functions of municipal government.”

DeLisa was a councilman in West Long Branch from January 1998 until March 2005, when he resigned. The Indictment describes two separate conspiracies to engage in corrupt conduct involving different individuals.

The first involves an extortion conspiracy, as alleged in Count One through Count Four, in which DeLisa received $3,000 in payments, of which $500 was for the purchase of tickets to a DeLisa campaign fundraiser. Of the $3,000, $1,500 was allegedly included in a larger payment of $5,000 accepted by someone identified in the Indictment only as Official No. 1, who was the mayor of West Long Branch at the time of the alleged conspiracy.

Official No. 1 accepted the $5,000 cash payment on Sept. 30, 2003 at a Tinton Falls restaurant from a government cooperating witness, who in return was promised municipal projects, including possible demolition work on the old West Long Branch Borough Hall, according to the Indictment. Official No. 1 then allegedly gave DeLisa $1,500 in cash at DeLisa’s home.

DeLisa and Official No. 1 met with the cooperating witness several times again and discussed future bribe payments, according to the Indictment. On Nov. 19, 2003 in Atlantic City, DeLisa allegedly accepted an envelope with $1,500 in cash.

The allegations in Count One through Count Four arise from Operation Bid Rig, the same investigation which led to charges being filed against 15 public officials, mostly from Monmouth County, in February and March of 2005. DeLisa was previously charged and arrested as part of that public corruption sweep in February of 2005.

The second conspiracy, as described in Count Five, alleges that DeLisa and Official No. 1 agreed to assist Developer No. 1 with municipal approvals in the construction of a drugstore at the intersection of two major thoroughfares in the Borough of West Long Branch. The proposal had met with resistance from public officials in the borough.

Also involved in the conspiracy, according to the Indictment, was Developer No. 1's Associate, as he is described in the Indictment. That person purported to be a consultant with an office in Monmouth County with ties to high-level public officials.

According to the Indictment, DeLisa and Official No. 1 met with Developer No. 1's

Associate in Red Bank in mid- to late 2000 at DeLisa’s invitation. At that meeting, Developer No. 1's Associate offered corrupt cash payments and campaign contributions to Official No. 1, which were to be shared with DeLisa, in exchange for their official assistance to Developer No. 1 with respect to the proposal to build the drugstore.

From in and about 2000 through March 2003, according to the Indictment, DeLisa and Official No. 1 accepted corrupt cash payments totaling $7,500 and campaign contributions totaling another $8,000 (see Page 16 of the Indictment).

The co-conspirators allegedly took numerous measures to conceal the payments and their source by, for instance, not reporting the cash payments on mandatory public financial disclosure statements to the State of New Jersey. Developer No. 1 and his Associate also caused Developer No. 1's company to pay money to other entities not publicly known to be affiliated with the drugstore project, which in turn contributed the same amount of money to political committees and campaigns associated with DeLisa and Official No. 1, according to the Indictment.

DeLisa is charged in Count One with Conspiracy to Extort Money Under Color of Official Right, which carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine; in Count Two and Count Three with Attempted Extortion under Color of Official Right, which carries the same maximum penalties; in Count Four with Acceptance of a Thing of Value of $3,000 or More to be Influenced or Rewarded, which carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine; and in Count Five with Conspiracy to Defraud the Public of DeLisa’s Honest Services, which carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

Despite indictment, the defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

In determining an actual sentence, the federal judge to whom the case is assigned would, upon a conviction, consult the advisory U.S. Sentencing Guidelines, which provide a formula that takes into account the severity and characteristics of the offense, and the defendant’s criminal history, if any. The judge, however, is not bound by the Sentencing Guidelines in determining an actual sentence.

Parole has been abolished in the federal system. Defendants who are given custodial terms have to serve nearly all that time.

Christie credited Special Agents of the FBI’s Red Bank Resident Agency, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Leslie G. Wiser, Jr., with developing the case against DeLisa.

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Marc Larkins, Chief of the Government Fraud Unit, and Rachael A. Honig, of the Special Prosecutions Division of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Newark.