A former salesman at Bayway Lumber in Linden admitted his role in a scheme to defraud customers and that he lied to a federal grand jury.
Adam Martignetti, 43, of South River, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Peter G. Sheridan in Trenton federal court on July 24 to two counts of an indictment charging him with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and making false declarations before a grand jury, according to a statement provided by the Office of the U.S. Attorney, District of New Jersey.
According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court, Martignetti admitted that from 2011-13 he conspired with others to defraud certain Bayway Lumber customers by providing free items to customers’ employees and then recouping the cost of the items, plus additional revenue for Bayway Lumber, by overbilling and fraudulently billing the customers. Martignetti also admitted to supplying lower-quality, less expensive plywood to a customer, but charging for the more expensive, higher-quality plywood the customer had ordered, according to the statement.
Martignetti gave a variety of personal items to employees of some of Bayway Lumber’s customers, including Amtrak, the City of Elizabeth and the Plainfield Board of Education. These items included a laptop, several iPads, a camera and sound system, patio furniture, and other merchandise, according to the statement.
Under the supervision of Robert Dattilo, president and partial owner of Bayway Lumber, Martignetti then overbilled and fraudulently billed those customers. Dattilo previously pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud and was sentenced in July 2016 to 48 months in prison and ordered to pay $708,386 in restitution.
Martignetti also conspired to provide one Bayway Lumber customer, Consolidated
Edison Co. of New York Inc. (Con Edison), with lower-quality wood than it ordered and paid for. When Con Edison ordered graded plywood, a type of plywood graded by mills that had met a certain set of specifications, Martignetti, at Dattilo’s instruction, routinely sent plywood that was of a lower grade or not graded at all, including “reject” plywood, but charged Con Edison for the higher-quality plywood that it ordered, according to the statement.
Martignetti also pleaded guilty to falsely testifying before a federal grand jury while appearing as a witness under oath in March 2013 that he had never given Bayway Lumber items to City of Elizabeth employees for free, and that Elizabeth was never charged for items that were for Elizabeth employees’ personal use, according to the statement.
The conspiracy to commit wire fraud charge to which Martignetti pleaded guilty carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison. The charge of knowingly making false statements before a grand jury guilty carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison. Each count also carries a maximum fine of $250,000 or twice the gross gain or loss associated with the offense, whichever is greatest.
Sentencing is scheduled for Sept. 28.