Federal Hearings Start Sept. 13; First State Trial Conferencing Nov. 4
Reprinted from Amboy Beacon, Aug. 11, 2010
Legal wrangling over the corruption trials of former Perth Amboy Mayor Joseph Vas and his longtime Mayor’s Aide Melvin Ramos may be leveling-off for now, as dates begin firming-up around the federal and state indictments that apparently will be taken-up quickly in hearings at U.S. District Court in Newark and Monmouth County Superior Court in Freehold. Early last week, the U.S. Attorney’s Office dropped six counts of Theft of Honest Services against Vas, responding to a U.S. Supreme Court decision severely-limiting that charge’s use. Federal prosecutors are beginning to lay the groundwork for their trial of the former 18-year mayoral incumbent on 12 remaining counts accusing him of using city funds to pay-for personal purposes and money-laundering to circumvent federal campaign-finance laws in his quixotic challenge of former Assembly Speaker Albio Sires in the 2006 Democratic 13th Congressional District primary election.
The day after the six federal counts were dropped against Vas, two officials whose firm oversaw construction on the still-unfinished $89 million Public Safety/Municipal Court/Community Center Complex, New Brunswick and Amboy Avenues, President Frank Dominguez and Vice President Richard Briggs of the Imperial Construction Group Inc., Elizabeth, which oversaw construction on the building, pleaded guilty in Superior Court to Submitting a False Government Contract. Hearings are scheduled to get underway in U.S. District Court on Monday, Sept. 13, with Vas political advisor Raymond Geneske, his former high school History teacher, and former Human Services Director Jeffrey Gumbs scheduled to testify against Vas under plea-agreements dropping some of the charges against them. Conferencing on charges contained in the two state indictments against Vas and Ramos is planned to get started on Monday, Nov. 4. Geneske was sentenced in June in Middlesex County Superior Court in New Brunswick to three years probation after admitting accepting a substantial contribution from local developer Eddie Trujillo, who has not been charged, and funneling that money into the Vas Congressional campaign coffers through an elaborate “straw-donor” procedure allegedly used to obscure the money’s origin. In the same venue, Gumbs was sentenced to up to 364 days in jail, a probationary term and 100 hours of community service after admitting that he conspired with Vas to steal some of the $6,235 in misspent City of Perth Amboy funds used to pay for personal purchases and expenses for Vas and himself, including $1,200 in city funds to pay for his son and the former Mayor’s son to attend basketball camp. After attorney Alan Zegas, representing Vas, told U.S. District Court Judge Susan Wigenton that he strongly-opposes any references to pending state charges in the federal trial as being prejudicial to his client, Wigenton agreed to hold a separate hearing on that issue. Under their plea-agreements, Geneske and Gumbs are required to testify truthfully against Vas in both his federal and state trials.
Meanwhile, Dominguez and Briggs admitted before Judge Anthony Mellaci Jr. that they padded Imperial’s billing by $58,006 to pay for a catering job in conjunction with a “Grand Opening” celebration on behalf of Vas at the incomplete Complex as a way to enhance the former Mayor’s 2008 campaign for re-election, which he lost to political newcomer Wilda Diaz by almost 1,200 votes. Dominguez said that Ramos and then-Business Administrator Donald Perlee suggested in a telephone call in April 2008 that the ceremony’s cost could be recouped by Imperial by inflating its billings for inspections. Perlee, who has not been charged, is cooperating in the investigation, according to state Deputy Attorney General Diane Deal. The state’s cases against Vas and Ramos have been transferred to Monmouth County from Middlesex County because Ramos is related to Superior Court Judge Dennis Nieves, sitting in New Brunswick, through marriage.
The defendants also are charged with a Pattern of Official Misconduct for their alleged acts, and each of those charges carries a mandatory minimum sentence of five years in prison without parole because they involve conduct that occurred on or after April 14, 2007. Ironically, those mandatory minimums were established under a law signed by former Gov. Jon Corzine in March 2007 that significantly-enhanced the punishment of government officials convicted of abusing their office and violating the public trust — a law sponsored by Vas as a then-19th Legislative District Assemblyman.
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