06-29-04 -- Braker, William C. -- Guilty Plea - News Release

Hudson County Freeholder and Former Jersey City Police Lieutenant Pleads Guilty to Extorting County Vendor

NEWARK - Sitting Hudson County Freeholder William C. Braker pleaded guilty today - just as jury selection was to begin in his corruption trial - to extorting $3,000 in payments from a county vendor, U.S. Attorney Christopher J. Christie announced.

Braker, 58, who was also formerly a Deputy Director of the Jersey City Police Department, faces a probable prison sentence of between 33 and 41 months, under U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and the terms of his plea agreement, according to Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jeffrey Clark and Phillip H. Kwon.

Braker was indicted in December 2002 on a seven-count corruption Indictment and was arrested by Special Agents of the FBI. He pleaded guilty to Count Three of the Indictment, which charged him with attempted extortion under color of official right.

Immediately after Braker entered his plea, Christie contacted Hudson County Prosecutor Edward J. DeFazio, who agreed that his office would make an application in Superior Court to have Braker removed from office as a convicted felon.

Braker is among the latest in a string of Hudson County officials to plead guilty to corruption charges.

"William Braker represented the worst in an elected official - masquerading as a honest public servant who in reality had his hand in the public till," Christie said.

Braker was a member of the freeholder board since 1987 and a Jersey City police officer until his retirement in 1997, when he was a deputy police director with the rank of lieutenant.

Braker admitted that between 1999 and September 2000 he met repeatedly with a vendor of psychiatric services and arranged to accept bribes. In exchange, the vendor was promised his vote of support as a freeholder and influence as a police official in helping the vendor obtain a contract with the police department.

The Indictment charged Braker with accepting three separate bribes. On April 4, 2000, Braker accepted a $2,000 cash bribe payment from the vendor. In June, 2000, Braker told the vendor that before the vendor could obtain a Jersey City Police Department contract, the vendor would have to "show good faith" by providing Braker with $2,000 in cash to purchase two $1,000 tickets to a political fundraiser. Braker was going to make a $1,000 cash contribution himself. Braker subsequently agreed to accept from the vendor a benefit of $1,000 by allowing the vendor to contribute not only $2,000 but also an additional $1,000 to cover the contribution that Braker had intended to make. On Sept. 29, 2000, one day after the Hudson County Board of Freeholders had approved a contract extension for the vendor, Braker accepted a $1,880 corrupt cash payment from the vendor.

After receiving a cash payment on one occasion, the Indictment states that Braker told the vendor, "I try and tell people invest five or six thousand for a three-hundred-thousand-dollar contract; you're way ahead of the game." The vendor received contracts with both Hudson County and the Jersey City Police Department.

Throughout the period that Braker was under investigation, the vendor had been voluntarily cooperating with the FBI. According to the Indictment, numerous conversations between the vendor and Braker were consensually recorded, and two of the three cash payments were captured on video tape as well.

Christie credited Special Agents of the FBI in Newark, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Joseph Billy, Jr., for their work in developing the case.

The Government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jeffrey D. Clark and Phillip Kwon, of the U.S. Attorney's Office in Newark.

-end-

Defense Attorney:

Thomas Ashley, Esq. Jersey City

and Henry Klingeman, Esq. Madison