06-20-05 -- Bridges, Alfred W. -- Sentencing -- News Release

Former Ewing Twp. Mayor Sentenced to Five Years of Probation for Possession of Crack Cocaine

TRENTON - Former Ewing Township Mayor Alfred W. Bridges was sentenced today to five years of probation, including four months of home confinement with electronic monitoring and 200 hours of community service for each year of probation, for his guilty plea to possession of crack cocaine, U.S. Attorney Christopher J. Christie announced.

U.S. District Judge Garrett E. Brown, Jr., also ordered Bridges to pay a $5000 fine.

Bridges, 57, entered his plea in U.S. District Court in Trenton before Judge Brown on Feb 18, 2004. Bridges, who served as mayor from 1989 to 2000, admitted that on Feb. 10, 2000, he possessed eight-tenths of a gram of crack cocaine.

Under the cooperating plea agreement between Bridges and the U.S. Attorney's Office, Bridges agreed to assist the government in the investigation and prosecution of others.

In determining an actual sentence, Judge Brown consulted the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines, which provide appropriate sentencing ranges that take into account the severity and characteristics of the offense, the defendant's criminal history, if any, and other factors. The judge, however, is not bound by those guidelines in determining a sentence.

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

Christie credited Special Agents of the FBI's Trenton Resident Agency, under the direction of Louie F. Allen, Special Agent in Charge in Newark, with the investigation, which is continuing.

The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Dave Bocian of the U.S. Attorney's Criminal Division in Trenton and Jeffrey S. Chiesa of the U.S. Attorney's Criminal Division in Newark.

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Defense Attorney: Lisa Van Hoeck, Esq. Federal Public Defender's Office, Trenton