09-24-04 -- Lambert, Sr., James R. -- Guilty Plea -- News Release

Former Executive Director of the Mercer County Improvement Authority Admits Defrauding the Public and Bribing Ewing Township Official

TRENTON - The former executive director of the Mercer County Improvement Authority pleaded guilty today to participating in a mail fraud scheme with Harry G. Parkin, the former chief of staff to the Mercer County Executive, and to conspiring with Alex Abdalla to bribe a Ewing Township official, U.S. Attorney Christopher J. Christie announced.

James R. Lambert, Sr., 43, formerly of Hamilton Twp., Mercer County, entered his guilty plea before U.S. District Judge Garrett E. Brown, Jr. to a two-count Information charging him with participating in a mail fraud scheme to defraud the public of honest services, money and property, and to conspiracy to bribe a local government official.

According to the terms of the plea agreement, Lambert agreed to cooperate with the government in its ongoing investigation of Mercer County public corruption.

"Mr. Lambert and his co-conspirators demonstrated an appalling willingness to make corrupt use of their government offices for their own financial gain," Christie said.

At the plea hearing, Lambert stated that Alex J. Abdalla, 51, was the owner and operator of recycling and demolition companies. Lambert admitted that in December 1999, while he was the Executive Director of the Mercer County Improvement Authority (MCIA), the authority awarded a multi-million dollar county-wide recycling contract to Abdalla's recycling company. Lambert also admitted that six months after the recycling contract was awarded to Abdalla's company, Lambert resigned as executive director of the MCIA and joined Abdalla's recycling company as its president.

Lambert admitted that in December 2001, he and Harry G. Parkin, then chief of staff to the Mercer County Executive, devised a scheme to use Parkin's official position to obtain a one-third ownership interest in the recycling company for both he and Parkin. Lambert admitted that from the fall of 2001 to the spring of 2002, Parkin, acting in his official capacity, was overseeing the MCIA's potential redevelopment at the Mercer County Airport located in Ewing Township. It was anticipated that the redevelopment plan would require demolition work valued at approximately $1 million.

Lambert admitted that as part of the scheme, Parkin offered to use his official position to assist one of Abdalla's companies in obtaining a contract for the demolition work at the Mercer County Airport in exchange for Abdalla's agreement to allow he and Parkin to acquire ownership interests in the business. Lambert further admitted that it was part of the scheme that Abdalla would use the proceeds from the airport demolition contract to buy out other investors in the recycling company, allowing Lambert and Parkin to each acquire a one-third ownership interest in the recycling company.

Lambert admitted that on Dec.18, 2001, at the direction of Parkin, he met with Abdalla at a Trenton restaurant and told him that Parkin wanted the three of them to be equal partners in the recycling company. Furthermore, Lambert admitted that he told Abdalla that Parkin and an active member of the Mercer County Republican Party, who as a principal at an engineering firm, would secure the airport demolition contract for Abdalla. Lambert further admitted that, following Parkin's orders, he made it clear to Abdalla that Abdalla's ability to secure the demolition contract was contingent on Abdalla's agreement to make Lambert and Parkin partners in the recycling company.

In addition to participating in the mail fraud scheme with Parkin, Lambert admitted that he conspired with Abdalla to bribe a Ewing Township elected official, as charged in Count Two. The Information states that the Ewing official was in a position to influence all aspects of Ewing Township's government, including appropriations, disbursements, awarding of municipal contracts and the granting of approvals for economic development projects.

According to the Information, in 1998, a company based in Michigan (the "Manufacturer") closed its plant, which had operated for decades on a site in Ewing Township. Following the closing, the manufacturer indicated it would be awarding contracts for the demolition of structures, the removal of debris and waste, and environmental cleanup.

According to the Information, the Official stated to the Manufacturer and publicly that, in light of the number of Ewing residents who had lost their jobs as a result of the plant closing, he urged the Manufacturer to award the demolition and cleanup contracts to local businesses.

Lambert admitted that he conspired with others, including Abdalla, to corruptly give the Official a kickback valued in excess of $150,000 in exchange for the Official's agreement to influence the Manufacturer to award the demolition and environmental clean-up contracts to a demolition company previously owned by Abdalla, allowing Lambert and Abdalla to profit.

Lambert also admitted that he and Abdalla caused the company to pay for the Official to travel to Michigan to speak with the Manufacturer on behalf of the Company.

Judge Brown scheduled sentencing for Feb. 7, 2005 at 9 a.m. Lambert was released on $100,000 personal recognizance bond pending sentencing.

Lambert faces a maximum penalty of five years in federal prison on each count. Each count carries a maximum fine of $250,0000 or twice the gross amount of any pecuniary gain that any persons derived from the offense or twice the gross amount of any pecuniary loss sustained by any victims of the offense.

Under U.S. Sentencing Guidelines, Judge Brown will determine Lambert's actual sentence based upon a formula that takes into account the severity and characteristics of the offense, and the defendant's criminal history, if any. Parole has been abolished in the federal system. Under Sentencing Guidelines, defendants who are given custodial terms must serve nearly all that time.

In the filing of a felony Information, a defendant waives the right to have his or her case presented to a federal grand jury and, instead, pleads guilty to charges presented by the Government.

Christie credited Special Agents of the FBI West Trenton Resident Agency, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Joseph Billy, Jr.; and Special Agents of the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation section, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Patricia J. Haynes.

The Government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney David Bocian of the U.S. Attorney's Criminal Division in Trenton, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeffrey S. Chiesa of the U.S. Attorney's Special Prosecutions Division in Newark.

- end -

Defense Attorney: Paul H. Zoubek, Esq. Haddonfield