2008
Annual Report

Anne Milgram, Attorney General of New Jersey

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OAG Annual Report Overview

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Dear Governor Corzine,
members of the State Legislature
and citizens of New Jersey:

Staffed by civilian employees and sworn law enforcement officers, the Department of Law and
Public Safety is a diverse agency that touches millions of lives each day.
At the Department, we are responsible for enforcing the law and ensuring the safety of those who
live, travel, work and play in New Jersey.
But our responsibilities do not end there.
Our department also serves as chief provider of legal advice and legal representation to agencies
of state government. This dual role makes us unique, and our mission doubly challenging.
Among other things, the department provides regular State Police patrols to ensure that New
Jersey roads and communities are safe.
We conduct criminal investigations and prosecutions.
We develop crime prevention and anti-violence strategies.
We provide emergency management and homeland security related services.
At the same time, we defend state statutes and, where necessary, file lawsuits aimed at
safeguarding children, combating fraud, protecting consumers, preserving natural resources, and
achieving other important outcomes on behalf of New Jersey citizens.
In 2008, the department’s work included many actions and accomplishments designed to
enhance the quality of life in our state, strengthen public confidence in government and, above all,
make neighborhoods safer.
In July, for example, we launched a major initiative in Camden city designed to cut down on
violence and street crime.
Done in partnership with Camden police and city government officials, the effort was part of
Governor Jon S. Corzine’s Strategy for Safe Streets and Neighborhoods.
Key to the initiative was a redeployment of police resources that put more than three times the
number of officers on the streets, as well as the creation of a technology-driven police Command
and Coordination Center.
The Command and Coordination Center enabled law enforcement to identify emerging crime
“hot spots” in Camden and assign appropriate police resources in response. In addition to local
police personnel, State Police manpower and resources were deployed to assist in the Camden
anti-crime effort. As part of one successful narcotics raid, Troopers rappelled from a State Police
helicopter onto the roof of a high-rise apartment building. Although such deployments were not
commonplace, the action sent a clear message that local and state law enforcement were working as
a team, and were prepared to use every available resource to combat drugs and crime.
Equally vital to our safe streets approach in 2008 were periodic, intelligence-based investigation
sweeps conducted throughout New Jersey in conjunction with the various county prosecutors’
offices, and local law enforcement and State Police. Directed by Jose Cordero, our statewide Director
of Gangs, Guns and Violent Crime Control Strategies, these sweeps resulted in the arrest of more than
1,800 suspects for such crimes as murder, attempted murder, drug trafficking and armed robbery.
Not only did the sweeps take many dangerous criminals off our streets, they led to the seizure
of more than $4 million worth of illegal narcotics and 162 guns, including 22 assault weapons.
Among those arrested were numerous members of the violent street gangs the Bloods and Crips.
One man arrested in Morris County was charged with attempting to murder his own father, who
was part of a rival drug ring.
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New Jersey Office of The Attorney General • Department of Law & Public Safety
While aggressive enforcement remained a lynchpin of our crime fighting approach in 2008, we
also worked with other stakeholders to expand New Jersey’s crime prevention efforts, and to create
re-entry programs aimed at helping convicted offenders become law abiding citizens. Both are
crucial aspects of Governor Corzine’s Strategy for Safe Streets and Neighborhoods.
In October, we joined with the Governor and a coalition known as the America’s Promise
Alliance to launch the New Jersey High School Graduation Campaign. The campaign is a yearlong effort to find solutions to the high drop-out rate among students through a collaboration
involving state agencies, schools, non-profit organizations, and the corporate sector. Specifically, the
program is aimed at reducing high school drop-out rates by supporting students and their families,
supporting teachers, cultivating leaders, promoting business and community involvement, and
establishing high expectations and rigorous curriculum.
Our department also worked with other state agencies in 2008 to launch Another Chance, a reentry initiative aimed at helping 1,300 inmates from Camden, Newark, and Trenton change their
lives and successfully return to their home communities.
Informed by the premise that recidivism is expensive – both in terms of human suffering and
public dollars – Another Chance coordinates re-entry efforts that begin while an inmate is in prison
and continue after release. The program provides intensive diagnostic assessments and expanded
educational, vocational and job coaching programs, as well as job placement help. The hope is that
programs such as Another Chance will make an impact on the recidivism rate in New Jersey, where
60 percent of adult inmates are re-arrested within three years.
Consistent with our commitment to improving the quality of life in communities by taking
criminals - particularly violent ones – off the streets, the Division of Criminal Justice launched
significantly more prosecutions in 2008 than the prior year.
Overall, the Division filed 966 new criminal cases by indictment or accusation – a 47
percent increase over 2007. More than 200 of those new prosecutions were brought by
our Gangs and Organized Crime Bureau, which increased its case filings by 107 percent
compared with the prior year.
Among other successes, the Gangs and Organized Crime Bureau obtained guilty pleas from 25
members of the violent “Sex Money Murder” set of the Bloods in 2008. All 25 defendants were
sentenced to prison, including the set’s two top leaders in Mercer County. They were sentenced to
prison terms of 13 and 12 years, respectively.
Equally notable in 2008 was the Division’s success in fighting public corruption. In addition to
realizing a 21 percent increase in new case filings, the Division’s Corruption Bureau achieved many
important convictions.
The Bureau successfully prosecuted former City of Orange Mayor and state Assemblyman Mims
Hackett, Jr. on charges related to Hackett’s fraudulent billing of the City of Orange. Hackett was
sentenced to five years in prison after pleading guilty to collecting more than $5,000 in phony
travel reimbursements. The Division also worked closely with federal authorities in 2008 to convict
former Newark Mayor Sharpe James of conspiracy and fraud related to his misuse of public funds.
The former mayor was sentenced to a total of 27 months in federal prison for his crimes.
A host of other public employees and officials were either indicted, successfully prosecuted,
or sentenced for corruption-related crimes in 2008 including: former state Department of
Corrections administrator Gerald T. Kennedy (indicted), former Irvington Mayor Michael Steele
(indicted), former Jersey City Municipal Court Chief Judge Wanda Molina (indicted), Camden
city school principal Michael Hailey (guilty plea), Blairstown Township Committeeman Ray
Davis (three-year prison sentence), and former Clayton borough police chief Frank Winters
(seven-year prison sentence.)
The Division of Law had a highly successful year in 2008 litigating on behalf of New
Jersey citizens.
In all, the Division obtained $154 million in recoveries and judgments for the state through
its lawsuits aimed at polluters, consumer rip-offs, companies engaged in investment fraud and
defendants who owed the state money but did not pay, among others.
The $154 million in recoveries represented a $30 million increase – approximately 24 percent –
over the amount obtained on behalf of the state in 2007.
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OAG Annual Report Overview
Among the noteworthy recoveries were $63 million from Tyco International Ltd. to settle a
pension securities fraud suit against the company and several of its top executives, and a total of
$14.7 million recovered through environmental lawsuits.
But dollars were not the sole measure of achievement for Division of Law attorneys. The Division
successfully defended New Jersey’s Highlands Water Protection and Planning Act against a
constitutional challenge, and carried on the state’s fight against foreclosure-related mortgage rip-offs
by filing a number of lawsuits targeting companies and individuals who engaged in “foreclosure
relief” scams. Altogether, Division lawyers filed five mortgage-fraud-related lawsuits in 2008
targeting a total of 73 individual and corporate defendants.
Division lawyers also went to court to block a half-million-dollar-plus severance payout to the
retiring Keansburg school district superintendent. In arguing against the hefty severance package,
our lawyers noted that state aid makes up most of Keansburg’s annual school district budget. The
proposed $556,290 severance payout was an unacceptable “golden parachute” for the outgoing
superintendent, our attorneys contended, and would come at the expense of Keansburg’s children
and New Jersey’s taxpayers. As of year’s end, the severance money was being held in escrow
pending further court action on the state’s effort to void the deal.
The Division of Consumer Affairs worked hard on many fronts in 2008 to ensure that buyers got
what they paid for, and to protect investors from fraud.
In one of the Division’s many civil investment fraud prosecutions, the Bureau of Securities
obtained a Superior Court judgment ordering two North Jersey investment brokers and their
companies to pay $3.6 million in restitution to investors and $4.35 million in civil penalties
to the Bureau.
The two men, Fred J. Miller of Fort Lee and Eric Riedman of New York City, were also
permanently barred from engaging in any securities-related activity. Miller and Riedman were
shown by the Bureau of Securities to have raised $3.3 million by making fraudulent representations
and omitting key, risk-related information while persuading 160 victims to invest with them. A
judge also found that the men had diverted investor funds for their personal use.
Meanwhile, Consumer Affairs took civil action against several major “name” retail outlets
accused of engaging in deceptive practices.
The Division filed Superior Court complaints in Hudson and Union Counties charging
Target and Wal-Mart with offering expired merchandise for sale, engaging in inaccurate price
scanning, failing to have sufficient quantities of advertised items in stock, and failing to display
selling prices. The major retailer Drug Fair was also cited in the complaints filed in Hudson
and Union counties. Each alleged violation carries a potential fine of up to $20,000 under
enhanced penalties sought by the state.
The department was equally vigorous in 2008 in protecting users of the Internet, particularly
young ones. We entered into separate agreements with two popular social networking sites,
MySpace and Facebook, that resulted in significant efforts by those sites to protect children,
including a commitment from each company to work with us in developing a standardized
mechanism for reporting on-line abuses.
In addition, State Police technology units conducted or took part in approximately 50
cyber-crimes-related operations resulting in the arrest of numerous Internet predators. In
many cases, those arrested were charged with sexually exploiting children and aiding in
the proliferation of child pornography on the Web. Among those arrested by State Police
in 2008 were several registered sex offenders who violated the conditions of their parole by
accessing MySpace and Facebook.
The Division of Gaming Enforcement continued to ensure the integrity of New Jersey’s
casinos in 2008, taking action against regulatory violators that resulted in more than
$650,000 in total penalties.
Among other actions, the Division imposed fines against two different Atlantic City
casinos – Borgata and Bally’s – for allowing underage gambling on their premises, resulting
in a total of $250,000 in fines. The Division also performed more than 43,000 inspections of
gaming equipment used by the casinos and tested approximately 8,500 slot machine control
and payout percentage programs. Slot machines account for approximately75 percent of the
casino gaming revenue in New Jersey.

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New Jersey Office of The Attorney General • Department of Law & Public Safety
Throughout 2008, the Division of Alcoholic Beverage Control worked to combat underage
drinking by employing a multi-faceted approach that blended enforcement efforts with public
awareness campaigns.
On the enforcement front, the Division worked with local authorities on Cops in Shops, a
program that places undercover police officers in retail liquor outlets as employees or patrons.
During the fall/winter spanning 2007-2008, Cops in Shops resulted in 148 arrests in and
around “college towns.” During summer 2008, Cops in Shops resulted in another 237 arrests
in coastal “shore towns.”
Bureau investigators also conducted a number of successful investigations at regular bars and
adult-oriented night spots. Among other things, these investigations yielded arrests for offenses
ranging from prostitution and unlawful possession of a stun gun to underage drinking and illegal
sports betting.
The Division on Civil Rights handled a number of significant cases in 2008, taking action on
behalf of those discriminated against in housing, employment, and access to places of public
accommodation.
In one case that garnered national attention, the Division issued a Finding of Probable Cause
against the Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association for discriminating against a same-sex couple
who sought permission to hold their civil union ceremony at Ocean Grove’s Boardwalk Pavilion.
Ocean Grove residents Harriet Bernstein and Luisa Paster had applied for permission to rent the
Pavilion for their civil union ceremony in March 2007, but were denied access by the governing
Camp Meeting Association. The Camp Meeting Association said a same-sex ceremony conflicted
with its United Methodist religious beliefs and that, as custodian of the Boardwalk Pavilion, it
was constitutionally empowered to prohibit such activity. However, a Division on Civil Rights
investigation found that the Camp Meeting Association had a history of allowing the public to use
the Pavilion for weddings and secular events.
The Division also found that the Association had obtained a Green Acres tax exemption from the
state Department of Environmental Protection 20 years ago conditioned on the Boardwalk Pavilion
being open to the public “on an equal basis.” In light of its investigation results, the Division ruled
that the Boardwalk Pavilion is a place of public accommodation under state statute, and that the
Camp Meeting Association’s refusal to rent it to Bernstein and Paster was a violation of the New
Jersey Law Against Discrimination.
In an unrelated case, the Division on Civil Rights found against a condominium association
in Manalapan, Monmouth County, for refusing to install access ramps to accommodate disabled
residents. In a significant 2008 Appellate victory, the Division successfully defended its 2007 ruling
that a Trenton-area Subway restaurant committed race-based discrimination against two AfricanAmerican teenagers who worked there by consistently referring to them with a racial slur. As a
result of the Division’s successful Appellate defense, the Subway restaurant owner and manager
were required to pay each victim $62,000 in damages and lost wages.
The Racing Commission oversaw an industry that continued to expand in 2008 with the opening
of New Jersey’s third off-track wagering facility in Toms River. For the year, bettors wagered a total
of nearly $141 million at the state’s three off-track betting facilities (the other sites are located in
Vineland and Woodbridge.) Meanwhile, the gross amount wagered on horse racing at all New
Jersey betting venues for 2008 totaled more than $934 million. Consistent with its mission to
ensure the integrity of thoroughbred and harness horse competition, the Racing Commission
used expanded testing protocols in 2008 to detect the use of performance-enhancing substances
in horses. In one case involving a well-known race horse farm in Burlington County, six harness
horses were declared ineligible to compete after testing positive for a performance-enhancing
steroid. A veterinarian who owned the horses and a trainer who regularly worked with them were
cited for a list of violations.
Although not the only measure of a state’s highway traffic safety climate, a significant drop-off
in the number of motor vehicle deaths on New Jersey roadways was an encouraging trend in
2008. Overall, there were 591 highway fatalities in 2008. In the prior year, 724 people died as a
result of highway crashes.

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The growing use of seatbelts and child safety seats by drivers and passengers, increased public
awareness efforts by the Division of Highway Traffic Safety and more aggressive traffic enforcement
by police all contributed to making highway travel safer in 2008.
Emblematic of the Division’s approach to public awareness were several new or expanded
awareness initiatives including a new Web site and elementary school educational program –
“Buck, the Buckle Up Dog.” Funded by the Division, “Buck, the Buckle Up Dog” is designed to
engage children in grades K-through-three in activities that emphasize the importance of proper
car, booster seat and seat belt use, as well as bicycle and pedestrian safety.
On the enforcement front, initiatives such as “Obey the Signs or Pay the Fines” targeted drivers
whose speeding endangered themselves and others. During the month of July 2008, 56 northern
New Jersey police agencies used Division-provided grant funding to conduct saturation patrols
aimed at motorists exceeding speed limits on local streets highways.
Meanwhile in 2008, the Juvenile Justice Commission (JJC) played a major role in making New
Jersey a national model for success in implementing juvenile detention reform.
Largely through the JJC’s efforts, New Jersey was chosen to serve as the first Juvenile Detention
Alternatives Initiative (JDAI) state model site in the country by the respected Annie E. Casey
Foundation of Baltimore.
New Jersey earned its designation as a model by achieving remarkable results in implementing
JDAI, a statewide effort aimed at finding community-based alternatives to housing young offenders
in secure detention.
Working with the state Judiciary and various local stakeholders, the JJC significantly reduced
juvenile detention admissions and length of stay – primarily for minority youth - in the five original
JDAI pilot counties of Atlantic, Camden, Essex, Hudson and Monmouth. Compared with the year
2003, there were 211 fewer young people in juvenile detention in those pilot counties on any given
day in 2007 – a 42 percent drop-off. Particularly striking were the JDAI results in Camden and
Essex counties.
The number of minority youth in detention in Camden County was cut in half, while Essex
County witnessed a 47.5 percent reduction.
During the same time frame, juvenile arrests declined by 9.4 percent in the five pilot counties,
debunking the myth that placing more young offenders in community-based settings will only lead
to more juvenile crime. Juvenile detention reform is a vital part of Governor Corzine’s Strategy for
Safer Streets and Neighborhoods.
At the Department of Law and Public Safety, our 9,100 employees have a broad-based mandate
that includes everything from safeguarding neighborhoods and protecting consumer investments to
safeguarding civil rights and preserving the integrity of legalized gaming.
In 2008, we made the streets safer by putting dangerous criminals in jail. We successfully sued to
preserve New Jersey’s natural resources and protect its financial assets. We worked round-the-clock
to ferret out corruption and hold those responsible for it accountable.
Looking ahead, we remain committed to working both independently, and in collaboration with
other agencies at every level of law enforcement, to ensure the safety of New Jersey residents and
improve the quality of life in their communities.

						
						

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Anne Milgram
Attorney General

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New Jersey Office of The Attorney General • Department of Law & Public Safety

Table of Contents
Division of Criminal Justice......................................................... 2	
Division of State Police............................................................... 8	
Division of Law ........................................................................ 12

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Division of Consumer Affairs . ................................................. 16	
Division on Civil Rights ........................................................... 20	
Division of Highway Traffic Safety ........................................... 24
Division of Alcoholic Beverage Control ................................... 28
Division of Gaming Enforcement . ........................................... 32	
Racing Commission ................................................................. 36
Juvenile Justice Commission ................................................... 38

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New Jersey Office of The Attorney General • Department of Law & Public Safety

Division of

Criminal Justice
New Jersey’s unified, integrated system of law enforcement is unique in the nation.
The Criminal Justice Act of 1970 designated the Attorney General as the Chief Law
Enforcement Officer of the State. The Division of Criminal Justice, on behalf of the Attorney
General, is charged with responsibility to enforce the criminal laws of the State and serve
a variety of functions pertaining to the administration of criminal justice. In addition to its
direct law enforcement operations, the Division provides oversight and coordination within
New Jersey’s law enforcement community. It is the goal of the Division to help coordinate
law enforcement efforts and resources at all levels – state, county and municipal – to ensure
the safety and security of all New Jersey residents. More information about the Division of
Criminal Justice is available at www.njdcj.org.

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Division of Criminal Justice

Overall Crime Fighting
The Division of Criminal Justice had a
tremendously productive year in 2008, filing
nearly 1,000 cases. The Division continued to
make fighting gangs and prosecuting public
corruption top priorities, achieving big case
increases in those areas, while also stepping up
prosecutions of financial fraud. The Division
filed 966 cases by indictment or accusation,
a 47 percent increase over 2007. The cases
involve more than 1,200 defendants. Cases were
up across the board in 2008, including a 107
percent increase for the Gangs & Organized
Crime Bureau, a 61 percent increase for the
Major Crimes Bureau, and a 21 percent increase
for the Corruption Bureau. The Office of
Insurance Fraud Prosecutor, which consistently
ranks as one of the most productive insurance
fraud prosecution offices in the U.S., logged a
19 percent increase in 2007, and edged out the
2007 total by one case in 2008.
These totals were reported for indictments
and accusations filed by the bureaus:
	
■■Corruption	
■■Gangs & Organized Crime	
■■Major Crimes	
■■Office of Insurance

Fraud Prosecutor	

2008	

2007

64	
226	
514	

53
109
319

156	

155

The Division’s Gangs & Organized Crime
Bureau continued to work with the State Police
and other law enforcement agencies to target the
command structures of some of the most violent
gangs in New Jersey. Meanwhile, the Division’s
Major Crimes Bureau focused on more complex
white-collar crime cases, including money
laundering and mortgage fraud. The Division’s
Corruption Bureau worked with the federal
government to convict former Newark mayor
Sharpe James at trial, while also filing its own
cases against prominent and high-ranking
public officials.

Public Corruption
In other prosecutions involving prominent
officials, the Corruption Bureau successfully
completed its prosecution of Mims Hackett
Jr., the former Orange mayor and former State
Assemblyman. Hackett was sentenced to five

years in state prison after pleading guilty in May
to official misconduct for fraudulently billing
the City of Orange for more than $5,000 in
travel expenses he never incurred. In December,
the Bureau obtained a state grand jury
indictment charging former state assemblyman
Neil Cohen with official misconduct and
possession, reproduction and distribution
of child pornography. Cohen allegedly used
computers in the 20th Legislative District office
to view child pornography and print copies of
child pornography that he left around the office.
The Corruption Bureau also indicted and
prosecuted several public officials for rigging
contracts and stealing funds in connection with
public projects. Department of Corrections
administrator Gerald T. Kennedy was indicted
in April for allegedly rigging bids, taking
kickbacks and engaging in fraud in connection
with $678,000 in state contracts. Former
Irvington mayor Michael Steele was indicted
in June for allegedly taking at least $120,000
in kickbacks for rigging contracts as business
administrator for the Irvington Board of
Education. And former Blairstown Township
committeeman Ray Davis was sentenced to
three years in prison in November for using
his position as chairman of the $2.6 million
municipal complex project to divert $46,000 in
funds to a dummy corporation he created.
In other noteworthy cases prosecuted by the
Bureau, Michael Hailey, the former principal
at H.B. Wilson Elementary School in Camden,
and his top administrator, Patricia Johnson,
pleaded guilty to stealing $14,000 in field
trip funds and attempting to steal $25,000 in
extra wages for fictitious meetings. Former
chief judge Wanda Molina and former court
administrator Virginia Pagan of the Jersey
City Municipal Court were indicted in July for
allegedly fixing parking tickets.
Two Bergenfield Borough Council members,
Dennis Mulligan and Elaine Rabbitt, were
indicted in December for allegedly forging
resignations of fellow members of the borough’s
Democratic committee before a special election.
The Division’s Gangs & Organized Crime
Bureau handled the prosecution of former
Clayton Borough police chief Frank Winters.
Winters pleaded guilty to theft and official
misconduct in September for stealing from
Mothers Against Drunk Driving and his

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New Jersey Office of The Attorney General • Department of Law & Public Safety
police department. He was sentenced to seven
years in prison and ordered to pay $180,000
in restitution to MADD. The State Police
Organized Crime Control Bureau South
investigated the case.

Gangs &
Organized Crime
The Division of Criminal Justice Gangs
& Organized Crime Bureau continued to
turn up the heat on gangs in 2008, targeting
the leadership of the most violent sets of the
Bloods in New Jersey. In July, the Bureau
indicted 15 alleged members of the Nine Trey
Headbustas set of the Bloods, which has ties to
Philadelphia and controlled narcotics dealing in
the Broadway section of Camden through acts
of violence and intimidation. The indictment
resulted from Operation Broadway, a joint
investigation by the Bureau and the HighIntensity Drug Trafficking Area Camden Task
Force. In September, 12 alleged members of
the violent, Paterson-based Nine Trey Hillside
Beehive set of the Bloods, including its two top
leaders, were charged in Operation Swarm.
The investigation, led by the State Police,
Division of Criminal Justice, Department of
Corrections’ Special Investigations Division
and Paterson Police, also uncovered drug
smuggling in state prisons.
During 2008, the Gangs & Organized
Crime Bureau obtained guilty pleas and prison
sentences for 25 out of 32 members of the
violent Sex Money Murder set of the Bloods
gang who were indicted in 2007. The two
top leaders in Mercer County received prison
sentences of 13 years and 12 years. One gang
member from Pemberton, David Garmon, faces
a 40-year prison sentence after pleading guilty
in a separate investigation into Sex Money
Murder in Burlington and Mercer counties
called Operation Razorback, which the Bureau
conducted with the State Police, Burlington
County Prosecutor’s Office, and Pemberton
Police Department. In addition, prosecutions
of members of the Nine Trey Gangsters set of
the Bloods continued in 2008. Guilty pleas
were obtained from 27 of the 46 defendants
who were indicted in 2007 as a result of a
joint investigation led by the New Jersey State
Police and the Division of Criminal Justice. The
defendants received sentences ranging from 5
years to 16 years in state prison.
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Members of the Gangs & Organized
Crime Bureau have also worked on important
initiatives under Governor Jon S. Corzine’s
Strategy for Safe Streets and Neighborhoods.
Many attorneys and detectives in the Gangs
& Organized Crime Bureau are working on
the Governor’s Camden Violent Crime Task
Forces, initiated in June 2008. These multiagency task forces made 306 arrests for crimes
including murder, assault with a firearm,
drug and gun trafficking offenses, and armed
robbery. Forty firearms were seized, including
13 assault weapons, along with significant
quantities of narcotics.
In addition, Bureau attorneys have been
embedded in the Essex and Camden county
prosecutors’ offices under the CeaseFire
program, which seeks to reduce gun violence
through aggressive prosecution of defendants
in non-fatal shootings. They obtained 117
indictments and accusations for shootings, drug
and weapons offenses and other crimes.
The Gangs & Organized Crime Bureau
indicted five men for trafficking guns from
Pennsylvania into New Jersey as a result of
a partnership with the State Police and U.S.
Department of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and
Explosives that utilizes ATF’s E-trace system for
tracking guns used in crimes.
The Bureau also assisted federal authorities
in charging an organized crime figure. Through
a cooperative effort of the Bureau and the U.S.
Attorney’s Office in Brooklyn, captured fugitive
Michael J. Coppola, a Genovese Crime Family
capo, was indicted in the Eastern District of
New York on charges of racketeering and
racketeering conspiracy that include, as a
predicate act, the 1977 execution-style murder
of John “Johnny Cokes” Lardiere.

Division of Criminal Justice

Major Crimes
In addition to prosecuting major financial
crimes, the Division’s Major Crimes Bureau,
through its Environmental Crimes Bureau,
led an intensive investigation with the Avalon
Police Department and the Cape May County
Prosecutor’s Office that resulted in the arrest
and subsequent indictment of a Pennsylvania
dentist, Thomas McFarland, for allegedly
dumping needles and other medical-type waste
that washed up on the beach in Avalon during
the last week of August 2008. In April, the
Major Crimes Bureau’s Casino Prosecutions
Unit obtained an indictment charging 24
members of a multimillion-dollar sports betting
ring that operated inside the Borgata Hotel
Casino poker room. Guilty pleas were obtained
from 17 of the defendants, including the two
leaders of the ring, Andrew Micali and Jack
Buscemi, Jr. The leaders each face up to five
years in state prison.
In the area of financial fraud, the Major
Crimes Bureau successfully prosecuted a
Monmouth County man, Spiro Pollatos, who
led others in mortgage fraud schemes involving
the theft of $2.7 million. The schemes caused
financial devastation for at least 20 victims
and had an adverse impact on two financial
institutions that provided loans. Pollatos
pleaded guilty in October to first-degree money
laundering and faces up to 15 years in prison.
His girlfriend pleaded guilty to second-degree
money laundering and faces 10 years in prison.
In December, the Bureau and the FBI arrested
Jeffrey Joseph Southard of Pittsgrove on charges
of first-degree money laundering, theft and
securities fraud for allegedly stealing more than
$1.3 million from investors.
Jeffrey Scott Lafferty was sentenced to 10 years
in state prison in May for stealing approximately
$790,000 from clients of his investment firm,
which had a mailing address in Red Bank
and offered specialized financial services for
podiatrists. That case was investigated by the
New Jersey Bureau of Securities, the Division
of Criminal Justice and federal authorities. And
in March, the Major Crimes Bureau indicted a

Millstone Township man, Michael D’Angelo, on
charges he stole $690,000 from more than two
dozen victims who invested millions of dollars
in his fraudulent get-rich-quick scheme. The
New Jersey Bureau of Securities simultaneously
filed a lawsuit seeking restitution and penalties
against D’Angelo, his company, CMR Mngt.
Group LLC, and two other owners of CMR.
In other noteworthy cases brought by the
Major Crimes Bureau, a Bergen County woman,
Victoria Rivera, was sentenced to 10 years
in prison, and her boyfriend, three years, for
stealing $828,000 by filing fraudulent state
tax returns. And Tyrone Maple, of the Bronx,
N.Y., was sentenced to three years in prison
in October for releasing hazardous asbestos
dust and debris at a church and daycare center
in Paterson by removing asbestos insulation
without a license and without observing federal
and state laws. He pleaded guilty to a charge
of knowingly causing the unlawful release of
a toxic pollutant filed by the Environmental
Crimes Bureau.

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Insurance Fraud
In 2008, the Office of Insurance Fraud
Prosecutor charged 182 defendants. OIFP
obtained fines, judgments, penalties and
restitution orders totaling more than $41
million, representing a 220 percent increase
over 2007, and imposed 776 civil insurance
fraud sanctions, a 3 percent increase over 2007.
The Medicaid Fraud Control Unit assisted in
national Medicaid fraud settlements involving
pharmaceutical companies that resulted in
recoveries of more than $13 million for New
Jersey for its Medicaid program in 2008.
In January 2008, 14 people, including the
owners of a pharmacy and a clinic in Essex
County, were charged by OIFP in Operation
PharmScam, an ongoing investigation into
schemes in which completed prescription

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New Jersey Office of The Attorney General • Department of Law & Public Safety
forms for HIV/AIDS drugs and other expensive
medicines were bought from indigent patients
so Medicaid could be billed for drugs that were
never dispensed. The total fraud is estimated to
have exceeded $2 million. Clinic owner Bryan
X. Chandler pleaded guilty to health care claims
fraud, as did two pharmacy operators who were
charged separately, Abdul Bari and John Borges.
Bari was sentenced to three years in prison, and
Chandler and Borges also face prison terms of
three to five years under their plea agreements.
In February, Irwin B. Seligsohn was sentenced
to three years in prison, becoming the first
New Jersey lawyer to be sent to prison for
the illegal use of runners. Racketeering and
conspiracy charges were filed by OIFP against
Seligsohn, his law partner, their firm, and 47
other individuals in connection with the firm’s
use of runners to recruit individuals to feign
auto accident injuries. To date, 26 defendants,
including both attorneys and the firm, have
pleaded guilty. In December, the two owners
of a Newark home health care agency, Touch
of Life, and their office coordinator pleaded
guilty to fraud charges. An OIFP investigation
determined they defrauded Medicaid out
of almost $1 million by billing Medicaid for
services that were not provided and services that
did not qualify for reimbursement.
In 2008, OIFP also continued to prosecute
individuals involved in various auto theft rings
in which cars valued in the millions were stolen
from New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania.
The cars were re-tagged with altered vehicle
identification numbers and sold, sometimes
over the Internet on sites such as eBay. Some
of the car thieves posed as licensed locksmiths
in order to obtain codes that they used to
reproduce car keys, and some of the cars were
stolen from dealership lots.

Significant
Appellate Matters
The Division’s Appellate Bureau had
significant victories in the New Jersey Supreme
Court that continued to shape state law in areas
as diverse as police use of NCIC information
during traffic stops, admissibility of statements
made by abused children, and appellate review
of “overcharging” cases.

6

State v. Sloane: The Court ruled that a
check of records for a driver or passenger in the
National Crime Information Center database
during a traffic stop is not a “search” under the
state and U.S. constitutions, so no reasonable
and articulable suspicion is needed for such
a check. The Court held that there is no
reasonable expectation of privacy in the public
records maintained by NCIC. By recognizing
that an NCIC check is not a search and does not
implicate privacy concerns, the Court preserved
the ability of officers to quickly conduct such
checks, which may be important for their safety
and the performance of their duties.
State v. Buda: The Division’s Appellate
Bureau appeared as amicus curiae, or friend
of the court, in a case in which the Appellate
panel held that the trial court did not abuse
its discretion in ruling admissible a young
child’s statements made to his mother, and
to a Division of Youth and Family Services
worker, that the defendant had beaten him. The
Appellate panel held that such statements were
admissible as excited utterances and did not
violate the Confrontation Clause of the U.S. and
state constitutions under the controlling U.S.
Supreme Court cases because the statements
were non-testimonial.
State v. Reid: This case represented a
significant victory for law enforcement’s ability
to gather computer-based evidence while
recognizing the privacy rights of New Jersey
citizens. The Court held that while the New
Jersey Constitution provides citizens with
a reasonable expectation of privacy in the
subscriber information they provide to Internet
service providers, law enforcement can obtain
subscriber information by serving a grand jury
subpoena on an Internet provider without
notice to the subscriber. The Court upheld
the suppression of information obtained by a
municipal subpoena, but it provided that the
State could reacquire the information with a
proper grand jury subpoena.

Division of Criminal Justice

State v. Amelio: In this case, the Court
held that a police stop of a defendant’s car was
proper given that the police dispatcher received
information from the defendant’s 17-year-old
daughter that he was driving a car while drunk.
The Court concluded that this provided a
reasonable basis for the stop of his car.

Other Initiatives
DNA Database: The Division’s CODIS
Compliance Unit and the State Police Office of
Forensic Sciences continued to rapidly expand
New Jersey’s DNA database and databank in
2008, adding more than 23,696 samples. The
databank now contains over 198,534 samples.
As the number of DNA profiles in the database
continued to grow, the number of DNA hits
also increased. There were more than 762
“hits” or matches in 2008. These hits solved
or assisted law enforcement in investigating 90
sexual offenses, 355 burglaries, 131 robberies
and thefts, and 37 homicides. New Jersey’s
DNA collection and hit rates are among the
highest in the country.

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New Jersey Office of The Attorney General • Department of Law & Public Safety

Division of

State Police
Members of the State Police work to protect the general public by providing statewide police
services including highway and marine patrols, criminal investigation and enforcement, intelligence
gathering, disaster management, homeland-security-related initiatives, emergency medical transport,
forensic science, laboratory services, and maintenance of criminal records and crime data. The
State Police is organized geographically into various “Troop” areas that are further delineated into
sections, units and bureaus that provide for intensified focus on such issues as street crime and
violence, drug trafficking and other forms of organized crime, disaster response, cyber-crime, casino
crime, and domestic preparedness. The State Police employs traditional law enforcement strategies
in conjunction with new approaches and cutting-edge technology to most effectively deal with such
threats as illegal drug distribution, violent gang activity, official corruption, Internet predators and
identity theft. More information about the State Police is available at www.njsp.org.

8

Division of State Police

Investigation Highlights
Fugitive Arrests for Murder: In February
2008 members of the State Police Fugitive Unit
and the U.S. Marshals Service New York/New
Jersey Regional Fugitive Task Force arrested
accused killer David Shepherd in Jim Thorpe,
PA. The arrest of Shepherd, who was wanted
for the execution-style shooting death of a man
outside a bar in Atlantic City in November
2007, resulted from information obtained
by a member of the State Police through a
confidential informant, as well as information
obtained from the social networking Web site
My Space. In October 2008, the State Police
Fugitive Unit and the U.S. Marshals Service
Fugitive Task Force captured wanted killer
Sharon Byrd at a residence in Upper Deerfield,
Cumberland County. Byrd was wanted in
connection with the robbery and shooting
murder of a pizza delivery man in Philadelphia
in September 2008. Byrd’s boyfriend had been
arrested in Philadelphia after the killing, but
Byrd had fled to New Jersey and remained a
fugitive for approximately a month.
Cardiff Motor Vehicle Agency Probe:
In August 2008, members of the Auto Unit
arrested New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission
clerk Lynette Daniel-Peterson in connection
with a scheme in which New Jersey Digital
Driver’s Licenses or New Jersey Identification
Cards were essentially being sold to persons
unable or unwilling to meet the state’s “six
points of identification” requirement for
$7,800 each. The arrest resulted from a State
Police investigation of activity at the state
Motor Vehicle Commission office in Cardiff
that began in April 2007 and involved, among
other things, use of a confidential informant,
an undercover Trooper, various electronic and
other surveillance strategies and assistance
from local law enforcement. The investigation
ultimately led to indictments against DanielPeterson and several accomplices. The
accomplices included Samuel Pelaez, identified
as a “broker” in the scheme, and Luis Matos,
who was acting as a “runner” connecting those
seeking a digital license with Daniel-Peterson.
Daniel-Peterson ultimately pleaded guilty, as
did her co-defendants. Each was sentenced to a
state prison term.
Arrest in NJ Correction Officer’s Murder:
In early 2008, State Police detectives charged
Donnel Logan of Deerfield Township,
Cumberland County, with murder in

connection with the January 25, 2008 death of
New Jersey Corrections Officer Sonya Mullins,
also of Deerfield Township. Mullins, who
was assigned to South Woods State Prison,
was discovered dead when firefighters and
police responded to a fire at her home. An
investigation by the State Police Arson/Bomb
Unit determined the fire was intentionally set,
and evidence at the scene indicated the victim
had been assaulted prior to the setting of the
fire. State Police detectives subsequently arrested
Logan, a former state corrections officer who’d
also been assigned to South Woods State Prison
and who had formerly lived with Mullins.
Logan was charged with murder, felony murder
(arson), aggravated arson, aggravated assault,
tampering with evidence and burglary. As of
year’s end, Logan remained in the Cumberland
County Jail on $500,000 jail.
Sex Offenders on Facebook, My Space:
During the week of April 13, 2008, three
registered sex offenders were arrested by the
Digital Technology Unit for violating the
conditions of their parole by accessing the social
networking sites My Space and Facebook. The
offenders, each of whom had previously been
convicted of sexual crimes against children,
were charged with violating a new law (effective
in January 2008) restricting Internet access by
convicted sex offenders. The arrests followed
a four-month investigation by the Digital
Technology Unit with assistance from the New
Jersey Parole Board. Arrested were Stanton
Ulmer of Neptune Township, Felice Black of
Paterson and Pietro Parisi of Westville. Each
suspect was charged with violating the terms
of his parole supervision and released on his
own recognizance pending court proceedings.
Ulmer was convicted in 1999 of aggravated
sexual assault. Black was convicted in 2005 for
endangering the welfare of a child. Parisi was
convicted in 1996 for endangering the welfare
of a child and again, in 2003, for sexual assault.
Sexual Predator “Chat Room” Arrest:
In September 2008, members of the Digital
Technology Investigations Unit arrested Dennis
Longdaue of Thorofare, Gloucester County,
after he arrived at a Mercer County park to
have sex with someone he believed was an
underage girl he’d met in an Internet chat room.
In fact, the “girl” he had arranged to meet was
an undercover State Police detective. Longdaue
was arrested while waiting in the woods of
Veterans Park in Hamilton Township. The

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9

New Jersey Office of The Attorney General • Department of Law & Public Safety
investigation of Longdaue, 47, began when
he entered a Yahoo chat room and engaged an
undercover detective who was on-line as part
of a State Police operation aimed at catching
Internet predators. During the initial chat
session, Longdaue allegedly expressed interest
in meeting the underage “girl” for sex, and
subsequently arranged a date of Sept. 20, 2008.
Minutes before he was arrested, Longdaue was
allegedly in contact with the “girl” from his spot
in the woods via his Internet-capable cell phone.
A subsequent search of his truck revealed
condoms and chocolates, which Longdaue
allegedly had promised to bring during one of
his on-line chats with the detective. Longdaue
was held on $100,000 cash bail in the Mercer
County Jail and ordered by a Superior Court
judge to have no contact with children.
Cyber Hacking, Extortion Arrest: Following
an investigation, the Cyber Crimes Unit arrested
a 21-year-old Hamilton man on charges related
to his hacking into a young woman’s e-mail
account and attempting to extort nude photos
of her. The victim, 19, contacted State Police
after receiving a text message on her cell phone
informing her that her e-mail account password
had been changed to “hack101.” The person
who sent that text message also wrote that
he’d found nude photos of her in the e-mail
account. He demanded additional nude photos,
and said he would post the ones he had on the
Internet if she didn’t provide them. The victim
explained to investigators that, approximately
a year earlier, she had taken nude photos of
herself and sent them to her boyfriend. She said
she had saved the photos in a folder located
in her e-mail account. Soon after receiving
the text message demanding nude photos, the
victim received another message informing her
that a My Space account had been created, and
that it contained some of the pictures from her
e-mail account. After subpoenaing the necessary
information from Yahoo, detectives went to
the 21-year-old suspect’s home. He admitted to
hacking into the woman’s e-mail account and
attempting to extort nude photos from her.
Investigators also learned that he was related to
the victim’s boyfriend. The suspect was charged
with theft by extortion and computer theft, and
subsequently pleaded guilty.
Human Trafficking Arrest: In June 2008,
members of the Special Investigations Unit
charged Andre L. Cooks with first degree
human trafficking related to the exploitation
of women for prostitution in Atlantic City.
Cooks, who was living at an Essington, PA.,
10

motel at the time, was also charged with making
terroristic threats, promoting prostitution and
sexual assault. Cooks was allegedly transporting
young women from Orlando to Atlantic City,
where they were being coerced into prostitution
for Cooks’ benefit. Cooks was lodged in a
Delaware County correctional facility and later
extradited to New Jersey pending prosecution
on the human trafficking and other counts.
Casino Money Laundering Case: Based
on information developed in consultation
with Pennsylvania law enforcement sources,
members of the State Police Casino Gaming
Bureau’s Financial Crimes Unit learned that a
known cocaine distributor from the Harrisburg
area, John Hollins, was exploiting the Atlantic
City casinos to conduct drug transactions
via Western Union. Investigation revealed
that Hollins had logged more than $1 million
in casino play. Ultimately, Hollins and his
girlfriend, Leslie Lawson, also of Harrisburg,
were arrested on charges of first-degree money
laundering and lodged in the Atlantic County
Jail. The Pennsylvania Attorney General’s
Office simultaneously pursued narcotics
charges against the two.

Aviation Bureau
Every year since 2001, the Aviation Bureau
has experienced an increase in its mission
demands. In 2008, the bureau handled a total
of 10,831 missions. Among other assignments,
these included: 3,383 homeland-securityrelated flights, 1,200 training missions,
1,149 successful MedEvac emergency rescue
missions, 285 MedEvac inter-hospital transfers,
120 surveillance missions and 13 marijuana
eradication flights. Among the Aviation Bureau
mission highlights was the successful “hoist”
rescue of a 10-year-old child who fell and was
injured in the Delaware Water Gap mountain
range. Other highlights included:
■■The successful hoist rescue of two women
and a dog trapped in a frozen marsh area in
Middlesex County.
■■The successful rescue of a man lost in the
Pinelands who was sighted from a halfmile away by a State Police aviator wearing
Night Vision Goggles. Bureau pilots then
directed rescue teams on the ground to the
lost man’s location.
■■A predawn aerial raid on a 19-story highrise apartment building in Camden. State
Police helicopters provided a platform for

Division of State Police
13 members of the Technical Emergency
And Missions Specialist (TEAMS) Unit who
rappelled on a “fast rope” mission to the
building’s rooftop. Ultimately, Troopers were
able to serve arrest warrants on a number of
suspects, including a high-profile narcotics
dealer and several accomplices.

Canine Unit
The State Police Canine Unit responded to
more than 2,600 requests for service during
2008 from federal, state and local agencies. 	
State Police Explosive Detection K9 Teams
assisted in the state’s homeland security mission
by conducting 4,295 explosive sniffs and nearly
2,500 explosives sweeps.
State Police Narcotic Detection K9 Teams
seized approximately 3,246 grams of heroin,
206,604 grams of marijuana, nearly 138,000
grams of cocaine 490 grams of crack, two grams
of methamphetamine, 9,000 grams of ketamine
and other drugs valued at a total of $5.9 million.
In addition, Narcotic Detection K9 teams seized
$3.36 million worth of narcotics-tainted U.S.
currency. For the year, State Police K9 teams
located nine people and 17 pieces of evidence
through suspect tracks, missing person searches
and building searches. Among other responseto-threat actions, 18 K9 teams were deployed
during an incident at a popular amusement
park in New Jersey in which there was a report
of a possible suicide bomber.

Homeland Security/
Emergency Management
The State Police maintain a station at the
Atlantic City International Airport whose
primary mission is homeland security. The
station provides airport/aviation security and
on-site law enforcement services to the airport.
In 2008, State Police personnel conducted
more than 200 investigations of suspicious
travel documents, which ultimately led to
arrests for such crimes as fugitive from justice,
possession of illegal drugs, possession of a
concealed deadly weapon and immigrationrelated wants/warrants. In addition, the State
Police identified 14 persons during seven
separate investigations into suspicious activity
who, based on State Police information, became
“persons of interest” to the FBI Joint Terrorism
Task Force or were found to already be under
current scrutiny by the task force. 	

Also in 2008, the State Police airport unit
conducted a successful joint investigation with
the federal Drug Enforcement Administration
(DEA) as part of the DEA-sponsored Operation
Jetway Task Force Group. The investigation
targeted a drug-trafficking organization that
had trafficked more than 100,000 pills through
the Atlantic City International Airport for
distribution throughout South Jersey. The pills
included oxycontin, percocet, methadone and
other prescription narcotics. The pills were
obtained illegally from a Florida physician
who was part of a parallel DEA operation
in that state. Ultimately, three persons were
arrested at the Atlantic City Airport upon their
return from a drug-trafficking trip with more
than 1,500 narcotic pills. The parallel federal
investigation in Florida continues.

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Expansion of ROIC
During 2008, the State Police
Communications Bureau oversaw the $3.5
million interior construction for an expansion
of the Regional Operations and Intelligence
Center (ROIC) – an overall $7.72 million
project. The expansion will provide State
Police the ability to house its Operational
Dispatch-Call Center Unit within the ROIC,
closing a geographic gap between cellular 911
calls, other Call Center Unit functions, and
the Watch Operations element of the ROIC. In
short, the project will enhance the “real time”
transmittal of information related to all crimes,
threats and hazards affecting the state. The
new Call Center Unit will consist of 24 work
stations, equipped with Motorola Gold Elite
dispatch radios, Positron Power 911 phone
and mapping systems and Positron Computer
Aided Dispatch (CAD). When completed,
the facility will be better positioned to receive
the more than one million cellular 911 calls
received from the northern and central regions
of New Jersey, and leave room for expansion of
the southern region of the state.

11

New Jersey Office of The Attorney General • Department of Law & Public Safety

Division of

Law

Staffed by approximately 510 attorneys, the Division of Law is regularly involved in significant
and complex litigation on behalf of New Jersey residents. The Division’s cases involve everything
from protecting children and preserving the environment to safeguarding civil rights and holding
accountable those who commit fraud. The Attorney General has a statutory duty to serve as both
legal adviser to agencies of state government and as defender of state laws. Through its Affirmative
Litigation Section, the Division of Law conducts its own civil investigations and pro-actively files
its own lawsuits on behalf of the State. However, the Division’s workload is also influenced by the
number, and the nature, of lawsuits being pursued by other agencies of State government, and by
the volume of lawsuits pending against the State at any given time. In 2008, the Division handled
more than 39,000 pending legal matters and resolved or closed out another 18,000. The Division
also conducted more than 1,200 trials and 1,100 administrative hearings. To learn more about the
Division of Law visit www.nj.gov/oag/law.

12

Division of Law

Keynote Achievements
Increased Recoveries, Reduced State
Pay-Outs: The Division of Law obtained
$154 million in recoveries and judgments on
behalf of the state in 2008 through anti-fraud,
consumer protection, environmental and
other litigation. The $154 million obtained
by the division represents a $30 million
increase – approximately 24 percent – over
the amount obtained on behalf of the state in
2007. Total dollars obtained by the Division
through litigation in 2008 included $63 million
recovered via settlement of a pension securities
fraud lawsuit against Tyco International Ltd.
and several of its top executives. In addition,
legal action by the division resulted in favorable
judgments or cost recoveries as follows: $22
million via general litigation; $14.7 million
through environmental lawsuits; $19 million
from debt-recovery litigation; $10.2 million
from consumer fraud lawsuits, $6.5 million
from investment fraud litigation; $4.3 million
from civil prosecution of Medicaid and other
insurance fraud, and $1.3 million from litigation
related to the state’s various professional
licensing boards.
At the same time that recoveries and
judgments obtained by the Division increased,
the total amount paid out by the state as a result
of legal action against it dropped in 2008 by
more than 40 percent – from $45.6 million in
2007 to $26.7 million.
Civil Mortgage Fraud Prosecutions:
Continuing the department’s attack on mortgage
fraud, Division of Law attorneys filed five
separate mortgage fraud lawsuits in 2008
naming a total of 73 individual and corporate
defendants. Fraud schemes outlined in the five
complaints ran the gamut and included those
aimed at victims seeking to own investment
properties, those hopeful of improving their
living situations via “rent-to-own” opportunities
and – in keeping with a growing societal
trend – property owners needing foreclosure
rescue assistance. In one case, Milgram v. Vest/

JP Global, the Division filed civil racketeering
and consumer fraud charges against two related
enterprises that conducted foreclosure “relief”
schemes. Among other things, Vest/JP Global
defendants were charged by the state with
inducing financially-desperate homeowners
to transfer their property titles to third party
buyers on the false promise that they would be
able to repurchase their homes in one-to-two
years. In fact, the state’s complaint charges,
homeowners never were able to repurchase
their homes, because the conspiring businesses
and individuals stripped the equity and charged
the former homeowners excessive rent.
The Division filed similar lawsuits
against three other enterprises including:
A&E Mortgage, American Millennium and
Ultimate Realty. As of year’s end, each of the
state’s five fraud lawsuits was in the discovery
phase of litigation.
Successful Mercury Rule Challenge:
Working with state environmental officials, the
Division successfully represented New Jersey’s
interests as lead state in a 17-state coalition
that fought, and ultimately won, against the
federal government’s controversial “cap-andtrade” approach to regulating harmful mercury
emissions from power plants. In February
2008, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District
of Columbia agreed with New Jersey and the
other states that the federal government cannot
avoid its legal duty to promulgate strict limits on
mercury emissions from all power plants – and
do so expeditiously. Among other things, the
ruling meant elimination of the federal cap-andtrade approach, under which power plants can
purchase emissions credits from other plants
that have cut emissions below targeted levels
rather than meet strict emission standards by
installing pollution controls.

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13

New Jersey Office of The Attorney General • Department of Law & Public Safety
Protection of Children: The Division
filed a civil lawsuit on behalf of New Jersey
in 2008 challenging a decision by the federal
Department of Health and Human Services to
make significant changes to the State Children’s
Health Insurance Program (S-CHIP).
The changes would have denied health
insurance coverage for more than 10,000 New
Jersey children. The state’s lawsuit charged
that federal officials circumvented the public
rule-making process by arbitrarily changing the
S-CHIP program eligibility standards without
proper notice to, or comment by, the regulated
states. The federal government ultimately
announced it would not implement the
proposed changes to S-CHIP.
Division attorneys also worked closely
with the New Jersey Department of Children
and Families in 2008 to protect abused and
neglected children. Through its DYFS Practice
Group, the Division won termination of
parental rights in more than 900 guardianship
cases, freeing the children involved for
adoption. With assistance from the Division,
DYFS completed more than 1,300 adoption
finalizations for children in 2008.

Significant Matters
Sunoco Settlement: As a result of litigation,
Sunoco paid New Jersey and the federal
government a total of nearly $1.2 million in
stipulated penalties and interest in 2008 after
failing to meet a deadline – agreed upon as part
of an earlier Consent Decree – for installation
of air pollution controls at its Gloucester
County oil refinery.
Assistance on Economic Stimulus
Package: The Division of Law aided in the
state’s economic recovery effort by working
with the New Jersey Economic Development

14

Authority (EDA) and the State Treasurer in
drafting and reviewing two pieces of legislation
that were enacted as part of the Governor’s
Economic Stimulus Package. Main Street NJ
enables the EDA Chief Executive Officer to
participate with and guarantee bank loans to
ease the credit crunch by encouraging banks
to make loans to companies that either need to
refinance old debt or to sustain a line of credit
in order to operate. Invest NJ is a new program
that awards a $3,000 tax credit per job to
corporations that create new jobs in New
Jersey, and a $3,000 grant per job to any noncorporation business that creates new jobs.
MOU on Nuclear Power Plant Security:
The Division worked on a Memoranda of
Understanding with the operators of New
Jersey’s nuclear power plants – AmerGen
Energy Company and PSEG Nuclear – that
strengthened security at the three generating
stations while freeing up State Police and
National Guard resources for deployment on
other assignments.
The Memoranda of Understanding with
AmerGen and PSEG Nuclear provided for
increased private security patrols outside the
plants and a new video monitoring system with
panning and zoom cameras that have thermal
imaging capabilities. The new cameras provide
views of the perimeter and access points to the
nuclear power sites and feed video images to
the state’s Regional Operations and Intelligence
Center (ROIC) through a secure line. State
Police at the ROIC are able to activate and view
the cameras at any time.

Division of Law

DOL Judgements and Recoveries for CY 2006-2008
Judgement/Recovery Type	

CY 2006 Amount	

CY 2007 Amount	

CY 2008 Amount

Civil Insurance Fraud	

$	 1,720,464.22	

$	 1,228,962.57	

$	 1,314,379.41

Consumer Fraud	

$	 19,789,424.34	

$	 5,479,913.24	

$	 10,222,460.44

Debt Recovery	

$	 11,267,392.00	

$	 19,981,300.44	

$	 19,170,048.80

Environmental	

$	 3,016,669.38	

$	 14,532,564.67	

$	 14,746,088.64

General	

$	 1,362,972.81	

$	 10,484,375.38	

$	 22,033,672.86

Medicaid	

$	 1,848,710.19	

$	 3,710,245.97	

$	 3,024,072.27

Pension Security Fraud	

$	 53,500,000.00	

$	 48,573,502.33	

$	 63,804,230.46

Professional Boards	

$	

$	

1,324,119.01	

$	 1,307,786.05

Securities Fraud	

$	 1,266,000.29*	

$	 8,449,859.35	

$	 6,526,953.80

Tax	

$	 6,661,167.27	

$	 10,514,808.35	

$	 12,486,875.80

Total	

$	100,632,906.49	

$	124,279,651.31	

$	154,636,568.53

200,105.99	

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0

*In CY 2006 a Consent Judgment of $69,291,511
was entered but not included due to non-collection because of lack of assets.

Payouts for Matters handled by DOL for CY 2006-2008
Matter Type	

CY 2006 Amount	

CY 2007 Amount	

CY 2008 Amount

Employment	

$	 2,451,291.90	

$	

2,311,077.45	

$	 1,289,830.91

General	

$	 17,580,966.17	

$	 14,836,861.59	

$	 8,904,973.71

Medicaid	

$	 1,558,858.00	

$	 1,261,528.00	

$	

NJ Transit	

$	 17,650,468.66	

$	 8,703,454.17	

$	 3,362,134.26

Tax	

$	

$	

$	

Tort	

$	 31,581,831.23	

$	 17,534,713.77	

$	 12,533,950.00

UMDNJ	

$	

$	

$	

Totals	

$	 72,325,922.45	

967,926.49	
534,580.00	

865,034.51	
102,550.00	

$	 45,615,219.49	

0.00
396,447.99
233,840.00

$	 26,721,176.87

15

New Jersey Office of The Attorney General • Department of Law & Public Safety

Division of

Consumer Affairs
The Division of Consumer Affairs is responsible for enforcing laws designed to ensure
fairness and integrity in New Jersey’s commercial and investment marketplaces, and for
assisting consumers who may have complaints or questions about particular vendors or
service providers. The Division’s essential mission is to protect New Jersey consumers from
fraud and deception, and to ensure that the state’s licensed professions and trades observe high
standards of conduct. More information about the Division of Consumer Affairs is available at
www.njconsumeraffairs.gov.

16

Division of Consumer Affairs

Significant Cases
Bureau of Securities

Miller/Riedman: The Division’s Bureau of
Securities obtained a state Superior Court
judgment ordering Fred J. Miller, of Fort
Lee, and Eric Riedman, of New York, and
their Bergen County-based companies to
pay $3.6 million in restitution to defrauded
securities investors and $4.3 million in civil
penalties to the state. A Superior Court judge
also permanently banned the two men from
further securities-related activity. Miller
and Riedman were shown by the Bureau
of Securities to have raised $3.3 million
by making fraudulent representations and
omitting key, risk-related information while
persuading 160 victims to invest with them.
A judge also found that the men had diverted
investor funds for their personal use.
Heritage Financial: A Bureau of Securities
investigation led to a broader probe of
investment fraud that involved U.S. and
Brazilian authorities and, ultimately, resulted in
federal charges against more than 20 suspects
accused of operating an international fraud ring.
The Bureau of Securities launched the case
several years ago when victims from around the
world began contacting the state to complain
about a Trenton-based company known as
Heritage Financial. In fact, Heritage Financial
was fictitious, and investors who believed they
were talking to their stock brokers in New
Jersey were actually speaking with con artists
operating in “boiler rooms” around the globe.
Ultimately, the U.S. Justice Department, the FBI,
U.S. Postal Inspectors, the U.S. Securities and
Exchange Commission and Brazilian Federal
Police joined the investigation.
In March more than 20 people –
everyone from the leader of the enterprise
and his partners to numerous “doleiros” or
money launderers – were arrested in Brazil
and in Florida.
Spanlogix: The founder of a defunct
Princeton-based company who allegedly
defrauded investors agreed in May 2008 to
pay $200,000 in restitution and a $75,000
civil penalty to the state to settle a lawsuit
brought by the Bureau of Securities. As part of
the settlement, Thomas D’Innocenzi, founder
of Spanlogix Corp., was also permanently
banned from working in the New Jersey
securities industry. D’Innocenzi founded

Spanlogix, a Web site and e-learning company,
in August 2001. Beginning in January 2002,
the company began offering and selling stock
in itself. Ultimately, the company sold more
than 438,000 shares of stock to 83 investors at
$2 per share. The stock was not registered for
sale with the Bureau of Securities, as required
by law, and D’Innocenzi also made numerous
misrepresentations to investors about the
stock sale. Spanlogix never became profitable
and D’Innocenzi eventually wired hundreds
of thousands of dollars in investment capital
overseas to Thailand for what he claimed were
outsourcing expenses.
Talbot/Schroy/Simmons: The Bureau
of Securities filed suit in August against
three men who allegedly duped investors –
including members of a Wyckoff church – out
of an estimated $500,000 by promising their
investments would fund charitable purposes
and the purchase of a new church building. In
reality, the defendants juggled investors’ money
among business and personal accounts they
controlled and ultimately used the funds for
personal expenses.
■■A five-count complaint filed in Superior
Court in Bergen County charges that David
A. Talbot of Hackensack, Robert Schroy of
Illinois and Kenneth Simmons of California
committed multiple violations of the state’s
Uniform Securities Law.
In its lawsuit, the Bureau of Securities charges
that Talbot, Schroy and Simmons operated
a fraud from March through October 2007.
Talbot, a former member of the Wyckoff
Assembly of God Church, later became affiliated
with the New Horizons Fellowship. The
Fellowship rented a church in Wyckoff and was
interested in buying a church building. Talbot
and Schroy allegedly used prayer conference
calls to induce Fellowship members and others
into investing with the promise that their
investments would generate monthly returns
of between 12 percent and 35 percent. The
men allegedly said investment returns would
fund the Fellowship’s church purchase, as well
as other charitable undertakings. The scam
attracted at least 10 investors, including some
church members.
The state’s lawsuit charges that Talbot,
Schroy and Simmons transferred their money
among various bank accounts and eventually

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New Jersey Office of The Attorney General • Department of Law & Public Safety
spent it on furniture, electronic appliances,
hotel stays, restaurant meals, auto leases and
other personal expenses. Bureau of Securities
investigators have identified at least 15 bank
accounts used in the scam.

Office of Consumer Protection
Target/Wal-Mart/Drug Fair: The Division
filed separate lawsuits in September 2008
charging major retailers Target, Wal-Mart and
Drug Fair with selling infant formula and
non-prescription drugs beyond their marked
expiration dates. All three companies face
enhanced civil penalties because each allegedly
have violated the terms of prior agreements
with the state over sale of expired infant formula
and non-prescription drugs. Consumer Affairs
investigators also found that products advertised
in store flyers, including “back-to-school” items
such as binders, calculators and printers, were
not in stock. State inspectors also found the
stores engaged in inaccurate price scanning.
Filed in Superior Court in Hudson and Union
counties, the state’s lawsuits charged that Target,
Wal-Mart and Drug Fair violated the Consumer
Fraud Act by offering expired merchandise for
sale, engaging in unconscionable commercial
practices and making false promises and
misrepresentations. Each company was also
charged with violating the state’s Weights
and Measures Act through inaccurate price
scanning. In addition to the infant-formula and
prescription drug charges, Target and Wal-Mart
were charged with failing to display selling
prices, failing to have sufficient quantities of
advertised items in stock and failing to post
proper notice of New Jersey’s bike helmet law
for consumers to view.
Drug Fair was also charged with failing
to have sufficient quantities of advertised
items in stock. Each alleged violation by
Target, Wal-Mart and Drug Fair of the prior
agreement carries with it an enhanced penalty
of up to $20,000.
Chevy 73: A Berlin, Camden County auto
dealership that trades as Chevrolet 73 and
Chevrolet 73 Bargain Corral agreed to pay the
state $200,000 to settle a lawsuit brought by
the Division of Consumer Affairs. In its original
lawsuit, the state charged Chevrolet 73 with
multiple violations of the state Consumer
Fraud Act, Used Car Lemon Law and related
regulations. Specifically, the state charged that
Chevrolet 73 failed to honor all advertised

18

motor vehicle prices, terms and conditions, and
that it either misrepresented or failed to disclose
the mechanical condition of used vehicles it
sold. As part of the settlement, Chevrolet 73
agreed to take part in the Division of Consumer
Affairs’ Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR)
program for three years. Under terms of the
agreement, any future consumer complaints
received by the Division during that period will
be forwarded to Chevrolet 73 and the dealership
must respond within 30 days. Any complaints
not resolved will be forwarded to the Division’s
ADR unit for binding arbitration.
Mecca Travel: Through the Division’s efforts,
a travel agency that failed to deliver on paid-for
travel packages to Mecca agreed in 2008 to pay
restitution. Woodbridge travel agency owner
Syed Ehtesham Naqvi and his business Dar Al
Muslimeen USA agreed in December to pay
four consumers a total of more than $23,000
to settle a lawsuit filed by the Division. Naqvi
also agreed to binding arbitration to resolve
complaints from nine other consumers who
are seeking a total of $29,355 in restitution.
Through Naqvi, consumers bought travel
packages for a religious pilgrimage to Mecca,
but they never made the trip because Naqvi
failed to book their flights.
Celebration Studios: To the relief of many
New Jersey residents who feared they would
never own treasured keepsakes from their
weddings, the Division began distributing
wedding photos and videos belonging to
customers of the defunct Celebration Studios in
November 2008. Celebration Studios abruptly
closed in January 2008 and left many consumers
without their contracted-for wedding photos
and videos. In early November, acting on a
request by the state, a Superior Court judge
ordered photographers and videographers who
had worked with Celebration Studios to turn
over their merchandise for distribution by the
state. As part of the effort to unite consumers
with their cherished pictures and videos,
Division staff sorted and catalogued 4,000
items in the company’s warehouse. Staff also
reviewed contracts, receipts and bills submitted
by approximately 1,400 Celebration Studios
consumers.

Division of Consumer Affairs

Professional Boards
Bipin J. Parikh, M.D.: Jersey City physician
Bipin J. Parkin, who was arrested for providing
prescriptions in return for cash payments,
agreed in June 2008 to surrender his license
to practice to the Board of Medical Examiners
while related criminal charges are pending. The
state charges that Parikh accepted between $60
and $100 per transaction, and that he prescribed
hundreds of dosage units of Percocet, Vicodin,
Viagra and Levitra to individuals who had not
been examined, and who lacked legitimate
medical reasons to need the drugs.
Santusht Perera, M.D.: The Board of
Medical Examiners suspended the license of
physician Santusht Perera for two years in
the wake of an incident in which he removed
portions of a patient’s lung that did not require
removal while operating to remove a tumor in
the patient’s other lung.
Sean Nisivoccia, Chiropractor: The state
Board of Chiropractic Examiners suspended the
license of Clifton chiropractor Sean Nisivoccia
for a minimum of five years in the wake of
allegations he fraudulently obtained personal
injury protection insurance benefits by billing
for nerve conduction velocity (NCV) testing he
was not authorized to perform and participating
in illegal referrals.

Initiatives

Professional Boards Improvement

As part of a comprehensive improvement plan
unveiled the prior year, the Division undertook
upgrades to its professional board units in
2008. These upgrades included the overhaul of
Board Web sites to include online information
on disciplinary actions taken against licensees,
scanning board records into electronic form for
online access, and the purchase and installation
of upgraded computers for board staff.
Web sites for the Accountancy, Acupuncture,
Alcohol and Drug Counselors, Architects,
Athletic Trainers, Audiology and Speech
Language Pathology and Cemetery board/
committee were significantly revised and
upgraded in 2008, with disciplinary records
and additional data now available and readily
accessible to the public. This effort will continue
in 2009 with other Board Web sites.

The on-line renewal of licenses continued to
gain momentum in 2008, with nearly 92 percent
of applicants using the Division’s on-line system.
Of 290,000 total license renewals processed in
2008, approximately 266,000 were submitted
on-line. The Criminal History Review Unit
continued in 2008 to move toward completing
criminal background checks on every health
care professional licensed by the Division. This
project will be completed in 2009.
Two new boards will be functional in 2009
– the Board of Massage Therapy and the Board
of Heating, Ventilation, Air Condition and
Refrigeration.

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Boardwalk Task Force
Joined by county consumer affairs
investigators, the Division inspected numerous
boardwalk businesses along the Jersey Shore
from Memorial Day to Labor Day, and found
violations of the state’s retail, amusement games
and weights and measures laws and regulations.

Airport Scales Task Force
Just prior to the Thanksgiving holiday
weekend, inspectors with the Division’s Office
of Weights and Measures checked all baggage
scales inside the three passenger terminals at
Newark Liberty International Airport to ensure
the devices were accurately weighing luggage.
Problems were found with 47 of the 252
baggage scales inspected. The 47 scales were
serviced and subsequently passed re-inspection.
Each airline pays $250 annually to have its
baggage scales inspected.

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New Jersey Office of The Attorney General • Department of Law & Public Safety

Division on

Civil Rights
The Division on Civil Rights is responsible for enforcing the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination
(LAD) and the Family Leave Act (FLA). The LAD seeks to prevent and remedy discrimination in
employment, housing, contracting and places of public accommodation. The FLA provides eligible
employees with leaves of absence in connection with the birth or adoption of a child or the serious
health condition of an eligible employee’s parent, child or spouse. In addition to receiving and
investigating complaints of unlawful discrimination, the Division’s mission is to foster sensitivity and
respect among all people throughout the state. Consistent with that mission, the Division sponsors a
variety of educational and community outreach activities. The Division has regional offices located in
Atlantic City, Camden, Newark, Paterson and Trenton. Annually, the Division receives more than 18,000
inquiries from the general public about discrimination, and responds to each one. More information
about the Division on Civil RightsS is available at www.njcivilrights.org.

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Division on Civil Rights

Significant Cases

Places of Public Accommodation
Finding Against Ocean Grove Camp
Meeting Association for Denying Use
of Boardwalk Pavilion for Civil Union
Ceremony: In a case that garnered national
attention, the Division issued a Finding of
Probable Cause against the Ocean Grove Camp
Meeting Association for discriminating against a
same-sex couple who sought permission to hold
their civil union ceremony at Ocean Grove’s
Boardwalk Pavilion. Ocean Grove residents
Harriet Bernstein and Luisa Paster had applied
for permission to rent the Pavilion for their
civil union ceremony in March 2007, but were
denied access by the governing Camp Meeting
Association. The Camp Meeting Association
said a same-sex ceremony conflicted with its
United Methodist religious beliefs and that,
as custodian of the Boardwalk Pavilion, it was
constitutionally empowered to prohibit such
activity. However, a Division on Civil Rights
investigation found that the Camp Meeting
Association had a history of allowing the
public to use the Pavilion for weddings and
secular events. The Division also found that
the Association had obtained a Green Acres
tax exemption from the state Department
of Environmental Protection 20 years ago
conditioned on the Boardwalk Pavilion being
open to the public “on an equal basis.” In light
of the investigation results, the Division issued
its Finding of Probable Cause against the Camp
Meeting Association in December 2008. In
doing so, the Division held that the Boardwalk
Pavilion is a place of public accommodation
under state statute, and that the Camp Meeting
Association’s refusal to rent it to Bernstein and
Paster was a violation of the New Jersey Law
Against Discrimination.

Disabled Access
Finding Against Manalapan Condo
Association for Refusal to Construct Access
Ramps: The Division issued a Finding of
Probable Cause against the Condominium
Association at Covered Bridge Condominiums
in Manalapan, Monmouth County, for failing
to install access ramps. The case began with
resident Shirley Edwab, who suffers from
neuroposy in both legs and uses a wheelchair
and walker. In 2006, Edwab and her husband
asked the Condominium Association to
install a ramp in a common area to allow

safer access to a parking lot for her and other
residents with disabilities. In June 2006, the
Association approved construction of two
small concrete ramps to allow access to the
parking lot serving Edwab’s building, as well
as a neighboring building in which several
other residents with disabilities lived. One
ramp was actually completed and used for a
short period. However, it was removed after
Manalapan Township officials advised that it
was not designed according to codes pertaining
to barrier-free construction. The condominium
association never replaced the faulty ramp, and
the planned second ramp was never built. A July
30, 2007 letter from the Association to Covered
Bridge residents claimed the Association had no
legal responsibility to install ramps. The letter
advised that residents were free to have a codecompliant ramp built at their own expense. The
Edwabs filed a formal complaint in September
2007. The Division subsequently joined the
Edwab’s complaint, finding that the Association
had violated fair housing laws. The case remains
pending before the Office of Administrative Law.
Finding Against Landlord for Denial
of LINK Access for Disabled Tenant: The
Division issued a Finding of Probable Cause
against a Flemington, Hunterdon County
landlord in 2008 for refusing to allow a LINK
vehicle onto her property to transport a tenant
with a disability. Tenant Glenn Gordon signed
a lease to rent a cottage from homeowner
Doris Milnes for $950 per month from May 1,
2007 through April 30, 2008. Gordon suffers
from an uncommon connective-tissue disease
and, as a result, has difficulty with movement
and mobility. In a complaint filed with the
Division in February 2008, landlord Milnes
was accused of discriminating against Gordon
by refusing to allow a LINK vehicle – used to
transport persons with disabilities - to traverse
her approximately-1,500-foot-long driveway to
pick him up for regular treatment at Hunterdon
Medical Center. The Complaint also charged
that Milnes forbid Gordon to ride his motorized
scooter on the driveway to meet the LINK
vehicle out on the main road. According to the
Division’s Finding of Probable Cause, Milnes
also rejected efforts by the Hunterdon County
Department of Human Services, administrator
of LINK, to negotiate a solution. In a December
6, 2007 letter to Gordon, Milnes advised that
she felt it was unsafe for him to continue living
in her rental unit, and that he should consider

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New Jersey Office of The Attorney General • Department of Law & Public Safety
her letter a notice to vacate. Owing to what
the Finding of Probable Cause described as
an “intolerable” transportation issue, Gordon
was eventually forced to leave the rental home
prior to his lease expiring. Milnes told Division
investigators that a LINK vehicle of any size
would damage drainage pipes located under
her driveway. She also claimed that one LINK
vehicle attempting to pick up Gordon in the
past had been stranded in the mud and required
towing because there was not sufficient space
in her driveway. The Division found that Milnes
failed in her obligation to make a “good-faith
effort” to accommodate her disabled tenant, and
thereby violated his civil rights.

Hostile Work
Environment
Division Ruling Upheld on Appeal in
Subway Racism Case: In May 2008, a New
Jersey Appellate panel upheld a Final Agency
Determination by the Division that found a
Subway restaurant franchise committed racebased discrimination against two teen-age
employees and that, as a result, the restaurant’s
owner and manager must pay each victim
$62,000 in damages and lost wages. In February
2007, the Director of the Division on Civil
Rights upheld an Administrative Law Judge’s
earlier decision and found that two AfricanAmerican teen-agers who formerly worked
at a Subway restaurant in Lawrenceville,
Mercer County, were victims of race-based
discrimination by restaurant manager Dipen
Patel, as well as the Subway franchise itself.
Specifically, the Director upheld the ALJ’s
finding that the two young men were subjected
to a hostile work environment in 2005 by
virtue of Patel’s regular use of the “n-word” in
addressing them, and such comments directed
at them such as “I own you.” The Director also
upheld the ALJ’s conclusion that the conduct of
the Subway manager left the youths no choice
but to quit their jobs, a situation tantamount
to the 16-year-olds having been subjected to
unlawful “constructive discharge” by Subway.
The Director agreed with the ALJ that both Patel
and Subway (franchise owner Rupesh Trivedi)
were liable for damages and statutory penalties.
The Respondents were ordered to pay each
young man $60,000 in pain and humiliation
damages, and another $2,349.72 each in lost

22

wages. Patel and Subway were also ordered to
pay the State $10,000 each in statutory penalties
and another $27,142 to cover attorneys’ fees and
costs. Subway appealed and, on April 30, 2008,
a two-judge Appellate panel issued a decision
upholding DCR’s Final Agency Determination.

Equal Housing Access
Finding Against Apartment Complex for
Denying Divorced Man a Rental: The Division
issued a Finding of Probable Cause in 2008
against the owners of a South Jersey apartment
complex for allegedly denying a man the
opportunity to rent a one-bedroom apartment
because he would share the apartment with
his children, ages 6 and 9, during visitations
resulting from a divorce. Named as a respondent
in the Finding of Probable Cause was Lake
Valley Associates LLC, trading as University
Park Apartments in Pemberton, Burlington
County. University Park, located on Swarthmore
Court in Pemberton, is accused of unlawfully
denying rental housing to Cuthbert Casimir
in the summer of 2007. University Park is
accused of having rental policies that unlawfully
discriminate based on familial status, including
a policy of refusing to rent one-bedroom
apartments to anyone with children, and
a policy of refusing to rent two-bedroom
apartments on the second-floor to anyone with
children under age 10.
According to the Finding of Probable
Cause, University Park’s Property Manager
told Division investigators that it’s been policy
at University Park not to rent one-bedroom
dwellings to tenants with children because “shift
workers” living in the one-bedroom units do
not like children. The manager also explained
to investigators that, as a safety precaution,
University Park will not rent two-bedroom units
on the second floor to tenants with children
under the age of 10. The Division found that
two additional alleged policies violated the LAD,
specifically a policy requiring that “multiple
children must be of the same sex after two
years old,” and a policy of “absolutely no pets”
without any provision that the policy is not
applicable to a service or guide dog used by
persons with disabilities.

Division on Civil Rights

Additional Highlights
eHarmony Settlement: In November
2008, the Division announced it had entered
into a settlement agreement with eHarmony,
Inc. under which the compatibility-based
relationship Web site would begin providing
same-sex matching services in 2009. Under
terms of the settlement between Eric McKinley,
a gay match-seeker from New Jersey, and
eHarmony, the relationship Web site agreed
to provide a new service for match-seekers
identifying themselves as “male seeking
a male” or “female seeking a female” by
spring 2009. eHarmony, Inc. entered into the
settlement agreement after a discrimination
complaint was filed by McKinley against the
on-line matchmaker in 2005, triggering a
Division investigation and Finding of Probable
Cause in 2007. Under terms of the settlement
announced in November, the McKinley
complaint was dismissed and neither the
company nor its founder, Dr. Neil Clark
Warren, admitted to any liability. Under the
settlement agreement, eHarmony, Inc. was free
to create a new or differently-named Web site
to provide same-sex matching services, but any
new Web site would be required to identify
itself as an affiliate of, or a site provided
by, eHarmony. As part of the settlement,
eHarmony agreed to provide a free, one-year
membership to Eric McKinley. In addition,
eHarmony agreed to pay McKinley $5,000,
and to pay the Division $50,000 to cover its
investigation-related administrative costs.
Mediation Unit Success: In 2008, the
Division’s Mediation Unit successfully mediated
72 cases. The total monetary awards obtained
for complainants through mediation totaled
$559,204. The Mediation Unit offers parties in
a discrimination complaint an opportunity to
resolve the matter amicably, in the early stages
of the administrative process. Through the
program, parties to a complaint can voluntarily
meet with one of the Division’s mediators
shortly after the complaint is filed. In doing so,
the parties can potentially resolve the matter
and avoid a lengthy investigative and litigation
process. In addition to handling Mediation,
the unit conducts Conciliation. Conciliation
is essentially a final attempt to resolve a

complaint after it has reached the stage in which
a Finding of Probable Cause has been issued.
If Conciliation fails, the case is referred to the
Office of Administrative Law for assignment
to an Administrative Law Judge. In 2008, 25
Findings of Probable Cause were successfully
conciliated, resulting in $320,000 in monetary
awards to complainants.
Training and Outreach: Through its Bureau
of Prevention and Community Relations, the
Division conducted four training seminars in
2008 on Preventing Hostile Environments in
the Workplace or Academic Environment. A
total of approximately 600 people took part
in those seminars. In addition, the Division,
working in collaboration with the New Jersey
State Bar Foundation, sponsored a disability law
conference entitled “Protecting the Rights of
People with Hearing Loss.”

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New Jersey Office of The Attorney General • Department of Law & Public Safety

Division of

Highway Traffic Safety
The mission of the Division of Highway Traffic Safety is to reduce fatalities, injuries and property
damage resulting from traffic crashes on the roads of New Jersey. To achieve its mission, the Division
undertakes traffic safety programs relating to education, enforcement and engineering. The bulk of
the Division’s funding comes from the federal government, through the National Highway Traffic
Safety Administration. Funding received by the Division is used to undertake statewide traffic safety
programs and is also distributed among local, county and state agencies in the form of traffic safety
grants. Among the Division’s chief priorities are occupant protection, impaired driving, pedestrian
safety, distracted driving, aggressive driving and bringing the traffic safety message to New Jersey’s
diverse populations. More information about the Division of Highway Traffic Safety is available at
www.njsaferoads.com.

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Division of Highway Traffic Safety

2008 Highlights

Reduction in Traffic Fatalities
While not the only measure of a state’s
highway traffic safety successes, a significant
drop-off in the number of motor vehicle deaths
on New Jersey roadways was an encouraging
trend in 2008. Overall, there were 591 highway
fatalities in 2008. In the prior year, 724 people
died as a result of highway crashes. The
growing use of seatbelts and child safety seats
by drivers and passengers, increased public
awareness efforts by the Division, and more
aggressive traffic enforcement by police all
contributed to making highway travel safer in
New Jersey in 2008.

Seat Belt Safety
“Click-It or Ticket” Campaign: In 2008,
approximately 95 percent of the municipal
police agencies in New Jersey took part in
“Click-It or Ticket,” the Division’s annual
campaign to encourage seat belt usage and to
ticket those drivers found not wearing seat
belts. The “Click-It or Ticket” campaign took
place during a two-week period between May
19 and June 1, 2008, and was launched with
high-visibility enforcement efforts. Key to the
campaign was targeted seat belt enforcement
efforts by local and county law enforcement
agencies, as well as New Jersey State Police.
More than 200 law enforcement agencies
received overtime grants from the Division to
help fund the effort. Overall, law enforcement
issued more than 46,000 seat belt citations, as
well as more than 1,000 citations for improper
child restraint. Police also issued 6,831
speeding tickets and made 642 arrests for
driving while intoxicated as part of the “ClickIt or Ticket” effort.
The annual statewide seat belt usage survey
conducted by the New Jersey Institute of
Technology after “Click-It or Ticket” was over
found New Jersey’s seat belt usage rate rose
for the 12th consecutive year in 2008 – from
91.36 percent in 2007 to 91.75 percent. The
increase equates to 34,000 more New Jersey
drivers buckling up, one additional life saved,
and 16 fewer serious injuries. The counties
with the highest overall seat belt usage rates for
2008 were Middlesex (94.53 percent), Bergen
(93.79 percent), Morris (93.71 percent) and
Monmouth (93.35 percent.)

“Buck, the Buckle-Up Dog”: Among the
Division’s public awareness efforts focused on
seat belt safety in 2008 was a new, interactive
educational Web site and elementary school
educational program – “Buck, the Buckle Up
Dog.” Funded by the Division, “Buck, the
Buckle Up Dog” is designed to engage children
in grades K-through-three in activities that
emphasize the importance of proper car, booster
seat and seat belt use, as well as bicycle and
pedestrian safety.
Hispanic Community Outreach: The
Division provided funds in 2008 to the
Department of Community Affairs’ Center for
Hispanic Policy, Research and Development
to assist Hispanic organizations in developing
public education programs focused on
increasing awareness of proper car restraints for
young children. The program provided funds
and technical assistance to public and private
community-based child care and preschool
centers that offer programs to serve the needs of
children under eight.

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Combating
Drunk Driving
“Over the Limit, Under Arrest” Campaign:
The annual “Over the Limit, Under Arrest”
holiday crackdown on drinking and driving
culminated in early 2008. Overall, 333 police
agencies throughout the state made a total
of more than 2,000 drunk driving arrests
during the campaign, which began on Dec.
7, 2007 and ended on Jan. 2, 2008. As part of
the enforcement initiative, law enforcement
agencies also issued more than 4,400 tickets
for seat belt violations, nearly 300 summonses
for failure to use a child restraint and more
than 12,000 speeding citations. From midAugust through September 1, 2008 the
Division took part in another “Over the Limit,
Under Arrest” impaired driving crackdown

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New Jersey Office of The Attorney General • Department of Law & Public Safety
that resulted in another 1,589 DWI arrests.
During the August-September initiative,
participating police agencies issued more than
9,000 speeding tickets and nearly 5,000 seat
belt summonses.
Cops in Shops: The Division of Highway
Traffic Safety provided grant funding for Cops
in Shops, a program administered by the
Division of Alcoholic Beverage Control that
resulted in the arrest of 385 people in 2008.
Cops in Shops aims to prevent underage
consumers from buying alcoholic beverages,
and to discourage adults from purchasing
alcohol for them. During the fall/college
phase of Cops in Shops, 23 municipal police
agencies participated and a total of 148 arrests
were made. During the summer phase of the
program, police in 28 shore towns took part,
and another 237 arrests were made.

26

Anti-Speeding,
Aggressive Driving
Campaigns
“Obey the Signs or Pay the Fines”:
Working with law enforcement partners, the
Division conducted a region-wide crackdown
on speeding in seven northern New Jersey
counties in July 2008. Entitled “Obey the Signs
or Pay the Fines,” the initiative involved 168
police departments in Bergen, Essex, Hudson,
Morris, Passaic, Sussex and Warren Counties.
By the end of the campaign, police had issued
more than 9,600 speeding citations while also
issuing nearly 4,000 tickets for not wearing
seat belts and another 446 summonses for
child restraint violations. Police also made 490
arrests for drunk driving.

Division of Highway Traffic Safety
“Smooth Operator”: Conducted in four
southern New Jersey counties in June and
July of 2008, “Smooth Operator” was a
Division-sponsored pilot project designed to
crack down on aggressive drivers. Aimed at
motorists who speed, tailgate, pass improperly
and otherwise cause a risk to fellow drivers
through their aggressive actions behind the
wheel, the campaign involved 26 municipal
police departments and the State Police. During
the two-week program, police issued 945
speeding tickets. Police also issued 548 citations
for talking on a cell phone while driving,
464 tickets for failure to obey traffic control
devices and 24 tickets for improper passing.
Meanwhile State Police, patrolling the Atlantic
City Expressway, made more than 400 vehicle
stops and issued 155 speeding tickets, 37 seat
belt violations and 14 summonses for talking
on a cell phone while driving. During the twoweek campaign, there was a 40 percent decrease
in crash-related injuries on corridors patrolled
by police participating in “Smooth Operator”
compared with the prior year. In 2009, the
“Smooth Operator” program will be undertaken
as a statewide initiative.

was aimed at ensuring that Graduated Driver
License holders take part in driver improvement
programs that are mandatory for “probationary”
drivers who accumulate three or more motor
vehicle points.
Bergen County GDL Enforcement
Campaign: Police officers in Bergen County
issued 317 traffic citations to teen-age drivers
for Graduated Driver License violations as part
of a pilot program designed to reinforce safe
driving behaviors. Conducted by 70 police
agencies in Bergen County during a three-week
period in April 2008, the program featured
roving patrols and Graduated Driver License
enforcement checkpoints at schools and other
locations frequented by teen-age drivers. A total
of nearly 5,000 young drivers went through the
enforcement checkpoints, where they received
handouts containing safe driving reminders and
outlining the restrictions placed on Graduated
Driver Licenses.

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Developing Safer
Teen-age Drivers
Attorney General’s “No Plea Bargain”
Directive: The Teen Driver Study Commission,
appointed by Governor Corzine and the
Legislature to assess the state of teen-age
driving in New Jersey, issued its report and
recommendations on March 29, 2008.
Included in the Commission report was an
overview of the state’s “new and improved”
Graduated Driver License (GDL) system. The
Commission report also contained a number of
key recommendations. On September 17, 2008
the Attorney General, following up on one of
those recommendations, directed municipal
prosecutors not to plea bargain down driving
violations that carry points to “no point”
offenses. The Attorney General’s directive

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New Jersey Office of The Attorney General • Department of Law & Public Safety

Division of

Alcoholic
Beverage Control
The core mission of the Division of Alcoholic Beverage Control is to protect the public by
regulating how alcoholic beverages are sold, and by fostering moderation and responsibility in
alcohol consumption. The Division fulfills its mission by regulating and licensing the manufacture,
distribution, sale and transportation of all alcoholic beverages within the state. Essential to the
state’s governance of the liquor industry is the concept that licensees are granted a privilege to sell
alcoholic beverages, and that this privilege can be revoked for any violation of the law or alcoholic
beverage regulations. Retail liquor licenses are generally issued by the city or town in which the
business is located, although the Division may issue a retail license in certain circumstances.
Both the municipal issuing authority and the ABC have concurrent jurisdiction to investigate and
prosecute violations by retail licensees. More information about the Division of Alcoholic Beverage
Control is available at www.nj.gov/oag/abc/index.html.

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Division of Alcoholic Beverage Control

Underage Drinking

Enforcement

In 2008, the Division made discouraging
underage drinking its top priority, and employed
aggressive enforcement efforts and targeted
public awareness campaigns to get the job done.

The Division continued to attack the problem
of underage drinking in 2008 with Cops in
Shops. Launched by the Division in 1996,
Cops in Shops is a highly successful program in
which members of local law enforcement work
with alcoholic beverage retailers to prevent the
sale of liquor to underage consumers, and to
discourage adults from trying to buy it for them.
As of 2008, law enforcement agencies in more
than 235 towns had been trained to operate
Cops in Shops programs. The program involves
placing undercover police officers in retail
stores as employees or patrons. To further deter
young people from trying to purchase alcohol,
participating retail outlets display posters and
stickers warning that undercover police may
be on the premises. In summer 2008, law
enforcement agencies made 237 arrests – with
349 separate offenses charged – as part of the
annual Cops in Shops initiative focused on
shore resort patrons. Earlier, during the fall and
winter months of 2007-2008, Cops in Shops
resulted in 148 arrests – with 196 separate
offenses charged – as part of an effort focused
on college towns and communities located
near those towns. Since the inception of Cops
in Shops, authorities have arrested more than
7,500 people.

Awareness
“Dangers of Underage Drinking” Billboard
& Calendar Competition: A cooperative effort
between the Division of Alcoholic Beverage
Control and the Partnership for a Drug-Free
New Jersey, this statewide contest is designed
to encourage middle school students and their
parents to work together to create billboard and
calendar messages with the theme “Dangers
of Underage Drinking.” In 2008, the contest
generated more than 2,700 student entries,
from which 13 were selected to appear on
a 2009 calendar distributed to all middle
schools. The grand-prize-winning message
was also reproduced on highway billboards
in Monmouth, Ocean, Essex, Middlesex and
Union counties.
“Proms and Alcohol Don’t Mix” TV
PSA: In this initiative, high school students
throughout New Jersey were invited to
develop scripts for a 30-second television
public service announcement (PSA) focused
on the problem of teen-agers drinking during
prom and graduation season. Students
submitted more than 50 entries, and the
winning script came from a student at
KAS Prep of the Hudson County Schools
of Technology. The script was ultimately
produced and aired on local cable television
stations during prom and graduation season.
“Listen Up to the Dangers” Radio PSA:
Made possible through a grant provided by ABC
to the Partnership for a Drug Free New Jersey,
this initiative involved middle school students
working in consultation with their parents to
develop script ideas for a radio Public Service
Announcement focused on the dangers of
underage drinking. Approximately 500 student
entries were submitted, and two scripts were
ultimately chosen. Both scripts were turned into
PSAs – one produced in English, one in Spanish
– and both were distributed to radio stations
throughout New Jersey.

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Regulatory Efforts
Director Hearings

During the 2008 calendar year, numerous
appeals were filed requesting that the Director
extend a license or stay a revocation imposed
by the local issuing authority. The following
examples provide a snapshot of the Division’s
ongoing efforts to maintain quality of life in
New Jersey communities:
Irvington: The Director denied a request
for a stay of suspension from Joyce’s Tropical
Garden. The license of Joyce’s was suspended
for 183 days by Irvington municipal officials
after alleged narcotics activity by an employee
was reported, as were acts of violence and the
presence of gang members. Joyce’s is appealing
the suspension, and the matter is before the
Office of Administrative Law.

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New Jersey Office of The Attorney General • Department of Law & Public Safety
Bound Brook: The license of the Rio Sports
Bar was suspended for 145 days for allegedly
serving an intoxicated patron, and for creating
a hazardous condition on the licensed premises
by using two illegal gas generators to provide
power after the utility company had shut off the
bar’s electricity. In addition, a patron stabbed
a security guard while being escorted out of
the bar on one occasion. The Director denied
the licensee’s request for a stay and imposed a
mandatory 75-day suspension.

Investigations/
Enforcement
In 2008, the Division’s Investigations Bureau
conducted 1,175 compliance inspections of
current licensees and 86 inspections of facilities
receiving a newly-issued state license or permit.
The Bureau also conducted background
investigations on 124 persons with prior
convictions for crimes of moral turpitude who
were seeking to re-enter the alcoholic beverage
industry. As part of the Division’s commitment
to reducing underage consumption, the
Bureau conducted 55 operations targeting
establishments that cater to young patrons.
A total of 2,371 persons were “carded” for
identification, and 138 arrests were made for the
sale and/or consumption of alcoholic beverages
by underage persons. In addition to the criminal
arrests, these cases were forwarded to the
Division’s Enforcement Bureau for review of 241
administrative violations against the licensees.

Significant Investigations
Vic’s Place (Irvington): Acting on
information provided by the State Police,
Bureau of Investigations personnel conducted
an undercover operation at this Irvington club
and arrested three dancers for solicitation of
prostitution. They also charged the club owner
for illegal possession of a stun gun.
Crossroads of Garwood (Garwood):
Prompted by word of a weekly “beer pong”
tournament in which underage drinkers were
allegedly participating, Bureau personnel
arrested nine underage patrons at the
Crossroads of Garwood in Garwood. The
investigation was a joint effort conducted with
Garwood Police.

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Woody’s Roadside Tavern (Farmingdale):
During the course of undercover activities
revolving around Monday Night Football
promotions, Bureau investigators saw a
highly intoxicated patron and her underage
“designated driver” consuming alcoholic
beverages at this bar in Farmingdale. The
underage patron was arrested, and the
bar manager arranged a ride home for the
intoxicated patron who remained. During the
course of a follow-up inspection of the premises,
Bureau investigators discovered a $500-perweek football pool being run by the bartender.
Buda Bar (Newark): Based on a citizen
complaint concerning underage drinking
at this tavern in Newark, Bureau personnel
conducted undercover activities resulting in
the arrest of nine underage patrons and one
underage bartender. The underage server was
both dispensing drinks to underage patrons and
consuming alcoholic beverages herself.

Significant Prosecutions
S.B. Lazarus t/a Sensations Sports Bar
and Grill: The Division prosecuted this Bound
Brook licensee on 37 separate violations, the
majority of which involved lewd acts. There was
one count involving prostitution. Following a
trial before the Office of Administrative Law, the
Director ordered Sensations’ license revoked.
Allied Beverage, R&R Marketing: In
2008, the Enforcement Bureau conducted
an investigation to determine whether liquor
wholesalers were in violation for hiring the
relatives of retail licensees as solicitors for
their accounts and/or paying commissions
to persons related to retail licensees in return
for no services. By hiring a retailer’s relatives,
wholesalers provide that retailer with an
additional incentive to buy products from
them. The more the related retailer buys from
the wholesaler, the more relatives receive
commissions. Thus, these practices undermine
free competition in the alcoholic beverage
industry. ABC’s investigation revealed that

Division of Alcoholic Beverage Control

Allied Beverage Group paid more than $1.8
million to three solicitors related to a retailer
over a three-year period. During the latter parts
of 2005 and 2006, R&R Marketing paid more
than $380,000 in commissions to five solicitors
simply because their relatives held alcoholic
beverage retail licenses. None of these solicitors
performed any services to generate the sales on
which their commissions were paid. As a result
of its investigation, ABC determined that Allied
Beverage Group and R&R Marketing were in
violation. Allied Beverage Group ultimately
agreed to a settlement payment of $450,000,
while R&R agreed to pay the state $250,000.
Both also agreed to terminate the solicitors who
had been receiving commissions in return for
doing nothing.
‘Big Box’ Stores: As of year’s end, the Division
was seeking to settle matters with numerous
“big box” discount stores such as Costco, BJ’s
Wholesale Club and Sam’s Club regarding
allegations they had been selling alcoholic
beverages to other retailers. This practice
represents a violation of Division regulations,
and puts the sale of alcoholic beverages outside
the wholesale audit trail that ensures proper
sales taxes are paid. As part of its effort, the
Division is looking to establish policies and
“automatic prices” that will prevent such
unlawful sales and ensure that proper sales taxes
are ultimately paid by all retailers. 	

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New Jersey Office of The Attorney General • Department of Law & Public Safety

Division of

Gaming Enforcement
The Division of Gaming Enforcement was established in 1977 under the Casino Control Act
to ensure the integrity of legalized casino gaming in Atlantic City. The Division’s mission is to
protect the public interest by maintaining a legitimate and viable gaming industry free from the
influence of organized crime, and to ensure the honesty, good character and integrity of casino
operators, vendors and employees. The Division performs its mission through enforcement of the
Casino Control Act and related regulations, which were designed to ensure a strictly-regulated and
economically sound gaming industry. Oversight by the Division includes investigations, inspection
and audit, as well as criminal and regulatory prosecution. Criminal cases identified by the Division
are prosecuted by the Division of Criminal Justice. For more information about the Division of
Gaming Enforcement visit www.njdge.org.

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Division of Gaming Enforcement

Actions and
Accomplishments
Action Against Regulatory Violators:
The Division continued to ensure the integrity
of New Jersey’s casinos in 2008, taking action
against regulatory violators that resulted in more
than $650,000 in total penalties. Among other
actions, the Division imposed fines against two
different Atlantic City casinos – Borgata and
Bally’s – for allowing underage gambling on
their premises, resulting in a total of $250,000
in fines. In each case, the casinos were accused
of permitting underage persons to wager,
creating patron accounts for those underage
bettors and rating the wagering activity of
those individuals. The Division’s actions against
underage gamblers and those caught gambling
while on the Self-Exclusion list resulted in
$45,000 in forfeitures. Monies collected as a
result of fines and forfeitures are awarded to the
New Jersey Council on Compulsive Gambling
for use in combating gambling addiction.
Technical Services Bureau Vigilance:
Through its Technical Services Bureau, the
Division carried out its charge of ensuring that
machines activated for play on the casino floors
of Atlantic City are authentic and in compliance
with all relevant laws and regulations. In 2008,
the Division performed more than 43,000
inspections of gaming equipment used by
the casinos and tested approximately 8,500
slot machine control and payout percentage
programs. The Technical Services Bureau
plays a vital role in ensuring the integrity of
New Jersey’s casino gambling industry, as slot
machines account for approximately 75 percent
of the casinos’ gaming revenue. In addition to
its other duties, the Technical Services Bureau
is responsible for tracking every slot machine
that enters New Jersey or is built here. The
Bureau accomplished its task by using a
database that tracked more than 37,000 slot
movements in 2008.

Investigation of Private Equity Casino
Owners: The trend of private equity firms
purchasing stakes in casino operations
continued in early 2008, with TPG and Apollo,
two major private equity firms, combining to
purchase the assets of Harrah’s Entertainment.
Harrah’s Entertainment is the owner of
four Atlantic City casino hotels including:
Harrah’s, Showboat, Bally’s and Caesar’s. After
investigating TPG and Apollo and its principals,
the Division found Hamlet Holdings – the
partnership created by TPG and Apollo for
purposes of the transaction – to be a qualified
entity. The plenary hearing regarding Hamlet
Holdings coincided with license renewal
proceedings for the four Atlantic City casinos
Hamlet had acquired. As part of the process, the
Division completed a financial stability analysis
of all four casinos and Hamlet Holdings. The
Division found the corporate and individual
qualifiers to be suitable, and recommended
the four licenses be renewed. Seven years
ago, affiliates of Colony Capital, a private
equity firm, bought the Resorts Casino Hotel
property in Atlantic City. In 2008, when Resorts
sought casino license renewal, the Division
undertook a review of the private equity owner
and fully analyzed the financial stability of
the property. Based on its investigation, the
Division recommended that the license be
granted subject to a number of financial and
other conditions. Following a hearing in early
2008, the Casino Control Commission granted
the Resorts license, subject to the conditions
requested by the Division.

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New Jersey Office of The Attorney General • Department of Law & Public Safety
Employee Licensing: In 2008, the Division’s
Employee Licensing Bureau processed nearly
7,300 new license applications. Of the 40,000
people employed by the casino industry in
Atlantic City, more than 60 percent are licensed.
The categories of employees required to hold
credentials include casino key employees,
casino employees and casino service employee
registrants. The Employee Licensing Bureau
performs initial license investigations for
all new license applicants and each license
renewal, and it carefully monitors databases
to determine if any credentialed employee has
been charged with an offense that would be
license-threatening.
Regulatory Enforcement Bureau: The
Division’s Regulatory Enforcement Bureau is
responsible for monitoring casino operations
and information technology, enforcing the
exclusion and self-exclusion lists, enforcing
alcoholic beverage control laws, conducting
casino forensic audits, performing security
vulnerability assessments of each casino
property and coordinating the homeland
security needs of the casinos with local,
state and federal law enforcement. In 2008,
the Bureau’s forensic audit units conducted
nearly 1,300 investigations of casino internal
controls to verify compliance with casino
regulations, including monthly analyses of
currency transaction reports and suspicious
activity reports. The Bureau’s casino information
technology unit conducted 311 investigations,
including computer system security checks to
ensure that the systems are providing accurate
revenue information and remain free from
unauthorized access. The Bureau’s casino
operations unit conducted a total of 6,521
investigations, including detailed analysis

34

of surveillance systems, security procedures,
compliance with underage gambling and
drinking laws, use of unauthorized service
industry vendors and compliance with rules of
the game and gaming equipment specifications.

Significant Cases
N.Y. Woman Guilty of Gambling with
Stolen $1 Million: The Division of Gaming
Enforcement assisted with an investigation
that culminated in the July 2008 guilty plea
of a Westbury, N.Y., woman who admitted to
gambling in Atlantic City with $1 million she
stole from her employer. Jamine Alabre, 28,
pleaded guilty to receiving stolen property in
connection with her gambling at the Borgata
Hotel and Casino with cash she took from her
employer, IPSOS, an international marketing
firm on Long Island. Alabre’s boyfriend,
Mathurin Ambrose, 34, of St. Albans, N.Y., also
pleaded guilty to receiving stolen property in the
case. An indictment obtained by the Division of
Criminal Justice alleged that, between January
and October of 2005, Alabre and Ambroise
laundered more than $500,000 of the stolen
cash using slot machines in Atlantic City
casinos, particularly those at the Borgata. The
investigation was led by the Financial Crimes
Unit of the State Police Casino Gaming Bureau.

Division of Gaming Enforcement

Sports Betting Ring Broken: The Division
of Gaming Enforcement was among numerous
law enforcement agencies who assisted in
an investigation that broke up a $60 million
sports betting ring operating inside the Borgata
Hotel and Casino poker room for 20 months.
In December 2008, the two leaders of the ring
– Jack Buscemi of Mullica Hill and Andrew
Micali of Ventnor – pleaded guilty to related
criminal charges.
The charges against Buscemi and Micali
flowed from Operation High Roller, an
investigation led by the New Jersey State Police
and the Division of Criminal Justice. Borgata’s
own security and surveillance departments
worked cooperatively on the investigation. In
all, 20 people were arrested in connection with
the betting ring.	

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New Jersey Office of The Attorney General • Department of Law & Public Safety

Racing
Commission
The core mission of the New Jersey Racing Commission is to govern, direct and regulate
horse racing and pari-mutuel wagering in New Jersey. The Racing Commission conducts
vigorous oversight of horse racing matters throughout the state to ensure that racing is
conducted in a fair, responsible and lawful manner. Commission staff members also provide
administrative support to encourage the growth of the horse racing industry through
expansion of wagering opportunities. Attendance at live horse racing events in New Jersey
approached 1.5 million for 2008, and the gross amount wagered on racing at all New Jersey
betting venues for the year totaled more than $934 million. More information about the New
Jersey Racing Commission is available at www.nj.gov/oag/racing/.

36

Racing Commission

2008 Keynotes
“Out-of-Competition” Doping
Investigation/Prosecution: Consistent with its
mission to ensure the integrity of thoroughbred
and harness horse competition, the Racing
Commission used expanded testing protocols
in 2008 to detect the use of performanceenhancing substances in horses. In one
case involving a well-known horse farm in
Chesterfield, Burlington County, six harness
horses were declared ineligible to compete after
testing positive for the performance-enhancing
steroid known as Erythropoietin-Human (EPO).
Stephen C. Slender, a veterinarian who owned
the horses, and Ernest Adam, a trainer who
regularly worked with them, were cited for a list
of violations. Ultimately, all six samples were
confirmed as containing EPO. Both Slender
and Adam were suspended from New Jersey
racing for 15-and-a-half years, had their licenses
revoked and were fined $56,000 each. They
are appealing the actions against them. The six
horses identified as having tested positive for
EPO had all raced at Freehold Race Track and
the Meadowlands in 2008, and had raced at
tracks in New York and Pennsylvania as well.
The Racing Commission’s out-of-competition
testing program was launched in late 2007. It
began following adoption of a new rule that
expanded the Racing Commission’s ability to
test horses for illegal substances by authorizing
testing not only at race tracks, but at horse
farms – and at any time. Previously, the Racing
Commission was only authorized to conduct
testing of horses on race day, and only at New
Jersey’s four racetracks. The EPO at issue is a
human drug that artificially increases red blood
cells and hemoglobin, and can therefore enhance
oxygen consumption during racing. The use of
human EPO products is dangerous to the wellbeing of the horses, because it causes unnatural
increases in blood viscosity, which can lead to
heart attack or stroke during intense exercise.
In addition, EPO is a human pharmaceutical
product never intended for use in horses, and
never approved for such a purpose. Use of the
drug in horses can trigger an immune response,
such that the horse begins to destroy not only the
human drug, but its own natural equine EPO.
Equine Testing Laboratory: The Racing
Commission’s Equine Drug Testing Program
is administered at the New Jersey State Police
Forensic Science Laboratory, located at the
Meadowlands race track. A staff of 14 chemists
used modern testing equipment and methods in

2008 to detect the presence of illegal substances
in horses. For the year, more than 27,000 blood
samples and more than 7,000 urine samples were
collected and tested, resulting in 10 confirmed
violations of Racing Commission medication
rules. In addition, nearly 7,000 blood gas samples
were collected from standard bred horses, with
one “positive” result indicating a violation.
The Racing Commission randomly tests horse
jockeys and harness drivers for the presence
of illegal drugs. It also tests for alcohol abuse
by race participants and officials. In 2008, four
“positives” were confirmed out of nearly 700
human samples tested.
Opening of Third Off-Track Wagering Site:
In 2008, the Racing Commission oversaw the
opening of New Jersey’s third off-track wagering
facility, located in Toms River, Ocean County.
For the year, bettors wagered a total of nearly
$141 million at the state’s three off-track betting
facilities, which include the Toms River site
and off-track betting locations in Vineland,
Cumberland County, and Woodbridge,
Middlesex County.
Wagering Integrity/Quantum Data Center:
All horse race wagering conducted in New
Jersey is now processed at one central location
– the Quantum Data Center East operated by
Scientific Games Racing, Inc. Located in Mount
Laurel, Burlington County, the state-of-the-art
Quantum Data Center processes all wagers made
at New Jersey racetracks, via casino race books in
Atlantic City, and at the three off-track wagering
facilities located in Vineland, Toms River and
Woodbridge. In addition, the Quantum Data
Center is a regional hub servicing pari-mutuel
wagering from out-of-state locations. In addition
to being cost-effective, having one site and one
service provider allows for enhanced regulation
and oversight by Racing Commission personnel
who staff the Data Center during all hours when
wagers are placed to ensure that all such activities
are conducted properly.

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New Jersey Office of The Attorney General • Department of Law & Public Safety

Juvenile Justice
Commission
The mission of the Juvenile Justice Commission is to foster public safety and reduce
juvenile delinquency by holding young people accountable for their lawbreaking, providing them
opportunities to achieve positive change, and promoting their return to the community as productive,
law-abiding citizens. Now in its second decade – the agency was created by statute in 1995 – the
JJC continues to focus on serving the needs of at-risk youth and those adjudicated delinquent by
the courts and placed in its custody. The year 2008 presented many challenges, as the JJC sought to
continue to provide quality services to New Jersey’s youth in fiscally challenging times. All areas of
the agency were scrutinized with the goal of reducing spending while not compromising the programs
needed to support at-risk youth, provide rehabilitative services for young people under JJC supervision,
and structure reentry initiatives that help juvenile offenders make the transition back into their home
communities. More information about the Juvenile Justice Commission is available at www.njjjc.org.

38

Juvenile Justice Commission

Keynote Developments/
Initiatives
JDAI Effort Recognized
as National Model

The Juvenile Justice Commission (JJC) played
a major role in making New Jersey a national
model for success in implementing juvenile
detention reform in 2008. Largely through the
JJC’s efforts, New Jersey was chosen to serve
as the first Juvenile Detention Alternatives
Initiative (JDAI) state model site in the country
by the Annie E. Casey Foundation of Baltimore.
New Jersey earned its designation as a
model by achieving remarkable results in
implementing JDAI, a statewide effort aimed
at finding community-based alternatives to
housing young offenders in secure detention.
Working with the state Judiciary and various
local stakeholders, the JJC significantly reduced
juvenile detention admissions and length of
stay – primarily for minority youth - in the
five original JDAI pilot counties of Atlantic,
Camden, Essex, Hudson and Monmouth.
Compared with the year 2003, there were 211
fewer young people in juvenile detention in
those pilot counties on any given day in 2007 –
a 42 percent drop-off. Particularly striking were
the JDAI results in Camden and Essex counties.
The number of minority youth in detention in
Camden County was cut in half, while Essex
County witnessed a 47.5 percent reduction.
During the same time frame, juvenile
arrests declined by 9.4 percent in the five pilot
counties, debunking the myth that placing more
young offenders in community-based settings
will only lead to more juvenile crime. New
Jersey was approved by the Casey Foundation
as a JDAI replication site in 2004. Each year
since, the state has received $200,000 from
the foundation to support its participation in
the initiative, which encourages jurisdictions
to put in place a number of strategies that
help reduce the use of secure detention while
maintaining public safety and juvenile court
appearance rates. A major focus of the work
involves addressing racial disparities in the
juvenile justice system and addressing the issue
of disproportionate minority confinement.

As a result of its 2008 recognition as a
national model, the New Jersey JDAI effort was
earmarked to receive an additional $100,000
from the Casey Foundation to develop and
implement a curriculum for hosting delegations
from other states, teaching the principles of
statewide youth detention reform, and sharing
New Jersey’s experiences and keys to success.

Manorwoods Consolidation
Cuts Costs

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In November 2008, as part of a cost-cutting
move, the JJC closed its 24-bed Manorwoods
Residential Community Program for youngerage offenders in Estelle Manor, Atlantic
County. Although the building lease had
expired, the primary reason for closure was a
reduced need for community program beds
and a desire to realize cost savings. Younger
offenders housed at the Manorwoods facility
were transferred to the JJC’s Albert Elias and
Green residential community programs. Staff
from Manorwoods were transferred to the
Phillip M. Costello Transitional Academy in
Tabernacle, a newly-created JJC community
program that had formerly operated as a
private preparatory academy. The closure of
Manorwoods and absorption of its population
of offenders and staff by other facilities will
save the state $750,000 in year one and $1.5
million in year two.

39

New Jersey Office of The Attorney General • Department of Law & Public Safety

Comprehensive Reform
Plan Progresses
In 2008, the JJC continued to move forward
with its Comprehensive Reform Plan focused
on improving staff and resident safety.
Among other things, the plan is designed to
assess juvenile classification methods and
behavior management policies, as well as
various internal practices, and to provide
recommendations for improvement where
needed. One part of the plan is aimed at
developing a system of rewards/sanctions
and incentives/disincentives designed to
improve resident behavior and enhance
management of JJC facilities. Toward that end,
the JJC created a cross-discipline Behavior
Management Subcommittee. During 2008, the
subcommittee met in focus groups with agency
staff and residents and, from the meetings,
determined which incentives and disincentives
should be available at each custody level.
Custody levels have been identified as:
Level 1 – residential community programs;
Level 2 – medium custody or New Jersey
Training School (Monroe Township);
Level 3 – maximum custody or Juvenile
Medium Security Facility (Bordentown).
Custody Level 1 offers the most incentives for
positive behavior and the fewest disincentives.
Custody Level 2 falls in the middle of
the continuum, etc. Under the system,
positive behavior will result in reductions
in classification scores, thus residents who
demonstrate consistently positive behavior will
“graduate” from higher to lower custody levels.
The recommendations of the Behavior
Management Subcommittee provided
consistency between facilities and focused on
stabilizing the negative behavior of residents
and de-escalating crises.
Training in all aspects of the new
approach was provided to JJC personnel by
the Subcommittee during September and
October of 2008. The Behavior Management
Subcommittee has also begun working on
realigning other incentives/disincentives across
custody levels. Some areas under consideration
include canteen, telephone privileges, visits
and clothing options. In addition, the JJC is
developing a new student ratings system. The
system is intended to control behavior through
consistent and easily understood feedback

40

linked to incentives, disincentives and custody
level movement. The realignment of incentives/
disincentives and the student ratings system are
slated for implementation in early 2009.

Next Step Center
Opens at Training School
In keeping with the re-entry element of the
Governor’s anti-crime strategy, the New Jersey
Training School implemented the Next Step
Center on August 18, 2008. The center serves
as a resource center for residents returning
home to their communities. The idea is to
reduce juvenile recidivism by creating an
employment/vocational resource center within
the JJC’s largest secure care facility that can
equip youth with essential job skills, resources
and family support.
Next Step is important because it connects
juvenile offenders in JJC care with resources that
can help them with employment and support
services that are crucial to a successful re-entry
experience. As part of the Next Step curriculum,
residents work in peer groups with instructors
to explore topics relating to parole supervision,
money management, conflict resolution, coping
skills, computer job searches, resume writing
and mock interviewing.
The Next Step Center is equipped with video
teleconferencing to include the families in the
discharge process whenever possible. Residents
take part in groups and are assigned homework
from the New Freedom Curriculum, a cognitive
behavioral-based model used to explore issues
relating to substance abuse, negative peer
association, and identification of negative
thinking and its relationship to addictive and
criminal behavior. All residents at the New
Jersey Training School begin the discharge
planning process approximately three months
prior to release.

Juvenile Justice Commission

Juvenile Reception Unit Opens
The Juvenile Reception Unit (JRU) was
opened in November 2008 and serves as the
New Jersey Training School’s orientation unit.
A security control booth has been built and is
manned on a 24-hour basis. The JRU provides
a highly-structured environment that allows
the orientation process to occur with minimal
disruption. The unit has 28 rooms including a
gymnasium, classroom, medical station, social
services office, kitchen, recreational room and
multi-purpose room. Residents are transferred
to the JRU on a weekly basis from the Juvenile
Reception and Assessment Center. Upon arrival,
they are examined by medical staff and are given
a psychological evaluation. This is followed by
a two-week orientation phase accompanied by
academic instruction. Residents are classified
within two weeks of arrival to determine an
appropriate housing assignment. Residents’
treatment folders are developed during this
period and a Case Action Plan (CAP) initiated.
The CAP is an intervention tool that provides
the JJC with a standardized process for
collecting information about a juvenile’s unique
circumstances. The CAP involves a multidisciplinary approach to information gathering
and sharing, and is maintained throughout a
resident’s stay at the Training School.

County Youth Services Planning Guidelines.
The new publication includes a chapter entitled:
“Reducing Disproportionate Minority Contact
with the Juvenile Justice System and Reducing
Racial and Ethnic Disparities within the
Juvenile Justice System.” The chapter provides
guidance to county planners in viewing their
local juvenile justice processes through the
lens of race and ethnicity. It asks planners to
identify and address disproportionate minority
contact in the community, and to address
potential disparate outcomes for youths of
color in the juvenile justice system. Formed
in April 2003, the Racial Disparities Steering
Committee is comprised of representatives from
the Attorney General’s Office, the state Judiciary,
Public Defender’s Office, county Youth Services
Commissions and the JJC.

8
0

Steering Committee
Targets Racial Disparities
In 2008, the Racial Disparities Steering
Committee continued to address county
practices as part of an overall, continuing
assessment of racial and ethnic disparities
in the New Jersey juvenile justice system.
Among other actions, the Steering Committee
distributed its 2009-2011 Comprehensive

41

2008
Annual Report
New Jersey Office of Attorney General