Sonia
September 22nd, 2009, 07:24 AM
The Jersey Journal is reporting that several of the defendants in the JC corruption scandal have pleaded guilty to corruption charges:
Took $70G from 'developer,'
Saturday, September 19, 2009 By CHARLES HACKJOURNAL STAFF WRITER
Cheatam tells court - and names other officials, pols
NEWARK - A former Jersey City Housing Authority commissioner pleaded guilty yesterday to federal corruption charges, telling the court that part of his dirty work saw $15,000 in illegal campaign contributions go to Mayor Jerramiah Healy's May re-election campaign.
Under a plea agreement, 61-year-old Edward Cheatam of Jersey City faces up to nine years in prison and has to pay the government the $70,000 he took in bribes.
In back-to-back pleas in U.S. District Court, Cheatam and Hudson County Board of Elections investigator Denis Jaslow became the third and fourth people to plead guilty in the massive New Jersey corruption case that broke in July.
Cheatam admitted hooking up federal informant Solomon Dwek with more than a dozen Hudson County public officials and funneling the illegal donations through Deputy Mayor Leona Beldini, the treasurer of the mayor's campaign.
Dwek snared officials and candidates in the federal sting by posing as a developer who wanted to grease the wheels with cash bribes to get planning, zoning and other approvals for future construction projects, including a fictitious development on Garfield Avenue in Jersey City.
In a statement, Healy declined to comment on the plea.
"As we have said before, this is an ongoing federal investigation and we are not going to comment any further," the statement said.
"However, as previously stated and previously reported, any donations to my campaign account by those individuals charged in this federal investigation have been isolated for donation to charity."
Beldini's lawyer, Brian J. Neary, said Cheatam's guilty plea clears the way for a speedy trial for his client.
"Based on the money he received, Cheatam had 70,000 reasons to plead guilty," Neary
Took $70G from 'developer,'
Saturday, September 19, 2009 By CHARLES HACKJOURNAL STAFF WRITER
Cheatam tells court - and names other officials, pols
NEWARK - A former Jersey City Housing Authority commissioner pleaded guilty yesterday to federal corruption charges, telling the court that part of his dirty work saw $15,000 in illegal campaign contributions go to Mayor Jerramiah Healy's May re-election campaign.
Under a plea agreement, 61-year-old Edward Cheatam of Jersey City faces up to nine years in prison and has to pay the government the $70,000 he took in bribes.
In back-to-back pleas in U.S. District Court, Cheatam and Hudson County Board of Elections investigator Denis Jaslow became the third and fourth people to plead guilty in the massive New Jersey corruption case that broke in July.
Cheatam admitted hooking up federal informant Solomon Dwek with more than a dozen Hudson County public officials and funneling the illegal donations through Deputy Mayor Leona Beldini, the treasurer of the mayor's campaign.
Dwek snared officials and candidates in the federal sting by posing as a developer who wanted to grease the wheels with cash bribes to get planning, zoning and other approvals for future construction projects, including a fictitious development on Garfield Avenue in Jersey City.
In a statement, Healy declined to comment on the plea.
"As we have said before, this is an ongoing federal investigation and we are not going to comment any further," the statement said.
"However, as previously stated and previously reported, any donations to my campaign account by those individuals charged in this federal investigation have been isolated for donation to charity."
Beldini's lawyer, Brian J. Neary, said Cheatam's guilty plea clears the way for a speedy trial for his client.
"Based on the money he received, Cheatam had 70,000 reasons to plead guilty," Neary