2003-04-23 -- Bost, Sara -- Guilty Plea -- News Release

Former Irvington Mayor Sara Bost Pleads Guilty to Attempted Witness Tampering

NEWARK - The former mayor of Irvington Township, Sara B. Bost, pleaded guilty today to attempted witness tampering amid the third week of testimony in her corruption trial, U.S. Attorney Christopher J. Christie announced.

Bost, 55, admitted that, during an April 27, 1999 encounter with former township administrator David Fuller, Bost counseled him to provide false and misleading information to federal authorities and deny that he had ever taken a kickback from a paving contractor hired to surface a parking lot at a new municipal recreation center.

Bost admitted that the conversation - which was tape-recorded by Fuller, who by then was cooperating in the corruption investigation - was intended to hinder law enforcement investigation of the commission of a federal offense.

Both Fuller and the paving contractor, Bill Peterson, testified on behalf of the Government. In February 2001, Fuller pleaded guilty to bribery involved a federal (housing) program, admitting that he accepted a $2,000 kickback from Peterson. Fuller awaits sentencing.

U.S. District Judge Joseph A. Greenaway, Jr., who was presiding over the trial, set Bost's sentencing for Sept. 8.

Bost, the mayor of Irvington between 1994 and 2002 and a former Essex County freeholder, pleaded guilty to Count Four of a five-count Indictment, which was returned on April 4, 2002. (A news release on the original Indictment can be found at the Public Affairs Office website: www.njusao.org).

The witness tampering count carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. At the plea hearing, the Government said it would not object to a defense request for a non-custodial sentence. The Government agreed to dismiss the other counts of the Indictment at the time of sentencing.

Christie credited Special Agents of the FBI Newark in Newark, under the direction of Special Agent in Louie F. Allen; and Special Agents of HUD, Office of Inspector General, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Ruth Ritzema for their work in developing the case. Christie also credited Special Agents of the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation section, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Anne D. Fahy, for their assistance.

The Government is represented by Counsel to the U.S. Attorney Paula T. Dow and Assistant U.S. Attorney James Nobile, Chief of the U.S. Attorney's Special Prosecutions Division in Newark.

Defense Attorneys: Raymond A. Brown, Esq. and Alan D. Bowman, Newark