New Brunswick clerk faces corruption charges
BY JENNIFER AMATO
Staff Writer

NORTH BRUNSWICK - A township resident who was employed as a supervisory clerk for the city of New Brunswick was arrested on charges of extorting corrupt payments on May 24.

Linda Carol Roach, 55, was arrested on a criminal complaint by special agents of the FBI and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Office of Inspector General. She was charged with soliciting and accepting corrupt payments in exchange for exercising her official influence in favor of two construction companies who were doing rehabilitation work in New Brunswick.

According to a release by the U.S. Department of Justice, around Oct. 25, 2006, Roach admitted to accepting corrupt cash payments from two construction companies in exchange for expediting payment to those same companies. The charge of extortion under color of official right carries a maximum statutory penalty of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

Damian Salvati, a special agent with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, said that the New Brunswick Department of Community, Planning and Economic Development administered housing rehabilitation assistance programs to remedy conditions in low- or moderate-income homes using federal funding via interstate wire transfers. Roach was employed as a supervisory clerk typist and held the role of office manager, which included the task of processing purchase orders necessary for securing payments to contractors for the rehabilitation work they performed. Salvati testified that from around January 2004 to September 2006, the planning department awarded two co-owners of the New Brunswick-based construction company F.M. approximately $1.3 million in contracts for their projects in town.

Roach allegedly received monthly cash payments of $100 to $150 from the co-owners in exchange for her using her position and influence as a supervisory clerk to expedite the payment of checks to F.M. Salvati's testimony said that banking records confirm the cashing of checks and that records obtained from the city of New Brunswick reflect timely processed paperwork on Roach's behalf.

In addition, Roach was also accused of offering similar exchanges to officials of T.M., another construction business based out of Perth Amboy. From around June 2004 to September 2006, Roach's department awarded T.M. over $900,000 in contracts for the rehabilitation of homes in New Brunswick. Again, Roach received regular cash payments of around $100 to expedite payment to the company.

A business ledger kept by T.M. allegedly shows the approximate amount and date of each cash payment to Roach and shows that she accepted approximately $600 in 2004, $1,410 in 2005 and $800 in 2006.

Several other parties have already been charged and have pleaded guilty to their involvement in the situation. Prakash George Karat, 37, of Perth Amboy, a manager of T.M., and George Thomas, 38, of New York City, a co-owner of the company, admitted to giving benefits to multiple employees of the Department of Community Planning. Richard Kaplan, 57, of New Brunswick, a former rehabilitation construction inspector and assistant zoning officer for New Brunswick, admitted to receiving regular corrupt payments and discounted work from contractors on a home he owned in exchange for expedited and lenient inspections. Joseph McNulty, 42, of North Brunswick, and Sam K. John, 48, of Sayreville, who co-own F.M., admitted to offering benefits to the New Brunswick development department.

Special agents of the FBI's Franklin Township Resident Agency, investigators from the Middlesex County Prosecutor's Office and members of the New Brunswick Police Department assisted in the investigation. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Brian R. Howe of the U.S. Attorney's Special Prosecutions Unit in Newark.