10-29-04 --Vuola, Richard -- Indictment -- News Release

Marlboro Township Official Arrested on Charges of Bribery, Illegal Gun Possession, False Tax Returns

NEWARK - A Marlboro official was arrested this morning on an Indictment charging him with offering corrupt payments to officials in two townships, possessing firearms as a previously convicted felon and filing false federal income tax returns, U.S. Attorney Christopher J. Christie announced.

The eight-count Indictment charges Richard Vuola, 73, with offering approximately $150,000 in campaign funding to a member of the Marlboro Township Council if that member would support enactment of land-use ordinances necessary to allow development of property at the former Marlboro Airport site. According to the Indictment, on Dec. 10, 2002, Vuola purported to represent a builder and told the council member that he would procure the campaign funding if the council member assured him in advance of his or her support for the ordinances.

The Marlboro council member is not identified in the Indictment and was voluntarily cooperating in the investigation.

Vuola is a Commissioner on the Marlboro Township Municipal Utilities Authority (MTMUA), and served as chairman from February 2002 through January 2004. He was arrested at his home early this morning by Special Agents of the FBI and IRS and made an initial appearance at 11:30 a.m. before U.S. Magistrate Judge Mark Falk. Magistrate Falk allowed Vuola to be released on a $100,000 bond to be secured by real estate.

The Indictment was returned yesterday and unsealed with the arrest.

The Indictment also charges that some time between February 2001 and April 2001, Vuola offered at least $25,000 to an elected official of Manalapan Township. According to the Indictment, Vuola told the Manalapan official that he represented a builder with applications pending before the Manalapan Planning Board, and that those applications had been jeopardized by the Manalapan official’s proposal to re-zone certain township property. The Indictment charges that Vuola offered the money if the Manalapan official would exclude the builder’s property from the re-zoning proposal.

"Mr. Vuola is a well-known public figure in Marlboro Township, who apparently came to believe that he could buy votes with impunity and that no one was watching," said Christie. "He could not have been more wrong. Investigations into public corruption in Marlboro Township and elsewhere in Monmouth County will continue."

The Indictment also charges Vuola with two counts of possessing firearms - specifically a Browning 12-gauge shotgun and a 22-caliber rifle - despite having been previously convicted of felonies in New Jersey. (Federal law prohibits previously convicted felons from possessing firearms.)

Finally, the Indictment charges Vuola with four counts of filing false tax returns. Specifically, the Indictment charges that for tax years 1998, 1999, 2000 and 2001, Vuola failed to disclose income that he had earned from employment sources such as a nightclub in North Brunswick, a transportation company, and a document-management company. The Indictment charges that for each of those years, Vuola represented to the Internal Revenue Service that he had earned no taxable income, and did not disclose at least $132,000 in taxable income.

Counts One and Two of the Indictment charge Vuola with offering a corrupt payment, each of which carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Counts Three and Four charge Vuola with possession of weapons by a previously convicted felon, each of which carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Counts Five through Eight charge filing false tax returns, each of which carries a maximum penalty of three years in prison and a $100,000 fine.

Under U.S. Sentencing Guidelines, the judge to whom this case is assigned would, upon conviction, determine an 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, however, has been abolished in the federal system. Under Sentencing Guidelines, defendants who are given custodial terms must serve nearly all that time.

Despite Indictment, every defendant is presumed innocent, unless and until found guilty beyond a reasonable doubt, following a trial at which the defendant has all of the trial rights guaranteed by the United States Constitution and federal law.

Christie credited Special Agents of the FBI, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Joseph Billy Jr., and Special Agents of the IRS Criminal Investigation section, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Patricia J. Haynes, for investigation of the case.

The Government is represented by Assistant United States Attorneys Michael A. Hammer and Scott A. Resnik of the Special Prosecutions Division in Newark.

Defense Attorney: John J. Fahy, Esq., Rutherford