2003-05-20 -- Treffinger, James -- Guilty Plea -- News Release

Former Essex County Executive James Treffinger Pleads Guilty to Obstructing Justice, Mail Fraud

NEWARK - Former Essex County Executive and two-time candidate for U.S. Senate James W. Treffinger pleaded guilty today to obstruction of justice and mail fraud, admitting that he caused the creation of phony backdated documents and counseled a witness to lie to thwart a federal investigation into the award of no-bid contracts to United Gunite Construction, Inc., U.S. Attorney Christopher J. Christie announced.

At his plea hearing before U.S. District Judge John W. Bissell, Treffinger also admitted to hiring and using Essex County employees to work on his 2000 Senate campaign, according to Assistant U.S. Attorney Perry Carbone.

Judge Bissell set sentencing for Sept. 10 at 9:30 a.m. Treffinger remains free on $100,000 bail secured by an aunt's home.

Both counts to which Treffinger pleaded guilty - conspiracy to obstruct justice and mail fraud, carry a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Under the terms of a non-cooperating plea agreement with the Government, Treffinger faces an approximate range of between 10 and 16 months in prison. The actual sentence, however, will be determined by Judge Bissell.

As part of the plea agreement, the remaining counts of the Indictment will be dismissed at sentencing.

Treffinger pleaded guilty to Count Seven (conspiracy) and County Fourteen (mail fraud) of the Indictment returned against him on Oct. 24, 2002. Among other things, the Indictment alleged that Treffinger caused Essex County to enter into no-bid "emergency" contracts with United Gunite Construction (UGC) of Irvington in exchange for a $15,000 donation to Treffinger's 2000 Senate campaign.

Count Seven charged that once Treffinger became aware that UGC and other public officials were under investigation concerning similar no-bid contracts in the City of Paterson, he secretly gathered certain advisors and county employees together and coached them on how to lie to federal investigators if they were asked about the Essex County - UGC contracts and Treffinger's association with UGC and its principal, Jerry Free.

Concerning Count 14, Treffinger admitted that, shortly after declaring his candidacy for U.S. Senate in September 1999, he placed two individuals on the Essex County payroll primarily for the purpose of working on the 2000 Senate campaign. He admitted that those individuals did little meaningful work for the county, yet received a combined net salary from Essex County of about $29,471.

During his plea hearing today, Treffinger admitted among other things:

• that he pretended to be a prosecutor and coached Rajashekar Ravilla, the Essex County Engineer, to provide false answers to law enforcement about a meeting he and Treffinger had with Jerry Free;

• creating and causing the creation of misleading and backdated documents related to contact with, and the award of contracts to UGC;

• that he caused his close friend and advisor Michael DeMiro to assist him in creating the backdated and misleading documents;

• making favorable personnel decisions with regard to his County Counsel, Juan Fernandez, designed to coax him them to remain loyal to Treffinger;

• coaching DeMiro to lie about the creation of the false and misleading documents that were submitted to the grand jury and

The obstruction charge also alleges that Treffinger was seeking a presidential appointment to become the U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey in order to terminate favorably the investigation. Treffinger was captured in a covert tape-recording of a conversation with DeMiro on Jan. 15, 2001. During this conversation, Treffinger advised DeMiro that "all this becomes moot if I get to be made U.S. Attorney," and that they would "rest easy for a long time to come" because, he explained, "[t]hen this whole thing goes away."

The Indictment also charged that Treffinger explained that if he became U.S. Attorney, others, including himself, would be off limits to law enforcement, stating: "[there are] plenty of mobsters to go after, you don't have to go after all these poor politicians trying to ply their trade . . ."

Christie credited Special Agents of the FBI, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Louie F. Allen and Special Agents of the IRS Criminal Investigation section, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Anne D. Fahy for their agencies' respective roles in the Treffinger investigation, as well as the ongoing investigation of public corruption in Essex County.

The case was handled by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Carbone, Deputy Chief, and Nelson S.T. Thayer, Jr., of the Special Prosecutions Division of the U.S. Attorneys's Office in Newark.

-end-

Defense Counsel: Henry E. Klingeman, Esq. and Edwin J. Jacobs, Esq.