BY DAN NEWMAN
Staff Writer
The arrest of 11 Monmouth County officials on extortion and money laundering charges is only the beginning of an operation that will net “dozens more arrests,” according to the FBI.
“These first few arrests are just the beginning. This is just the first round of this entire thing,” FBI Special Agent Edward Kahrer, of the agency’s Red Bank office, said. “In the end, there will be a lot more arrests being made, and it may not be only political figures. Busi-ness people could be charged as well.”
Kahrer said that the next round of arrests could occur “as early as [this] week or as late as the week after that.”
“We will be making more arrests in the very near future concerning this matter,” Kahrer said. “It all depends on the U.S. Attorney’s Office and when they give the go-ahead.”
Among those arrested were mayors John Merla, Keyport; Paul Coughlin, Hazlet; and Paul Zambrano of West Long Branch, who is Merla’s cousin. The trio was charged with one count of extortion under color of official right, which can carry a penalty of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
Others who were arrested on the same charge were former Keyport Councilman Robert Hyer, West Long Branch Councilman Joseph DeLisa, Middletown Committeeman Raymond O’Grady, Deputy Monmouth County Fire Marshal Patsy Townsend, Neptune Township Deputy Mayor Richard Iadanza, Monmouth County Division of Transportation Operations Manager Joseph McCurnin and Asbury Park Councilman John Hamilton Jr.
Thomas Broderick, a former Marlboro councilman and the assistant supervisor at the county’s Division of Highways, was charged with money laundering, a crime which carries the same maximum penalties.
All of the defendants were released on $50,000 personal recognizance bail and were told by U.S. Magistrate Ronald J. Hedges not to leave Monmouth County unless it was for work or case-related business. They also had to surrender their passports and firearms.
With more arrests coming, according to Kahrer, there is the possibility that, in the end, the 11 defendants already arrested could end up serving a valuable role as the case wears on.
“Sometimes, it can happen that defendants can give valuable information over to the authorities against other defendants involved in the same case,” Kahrer explained. “In previous cases like this, it has been done and it has only helped our case.”
However, he did not go as far as to say that the original 11 would have that opportunity.
Each of the defendants was accused of accepting cash payments between $1,000 and $9,000, except for Hamilton, who had his driveway repaved, with the work valued at $5,000.
Teams of federal agents made their move to pick up the accused in a series of early morning raids on Feb. 22. Many of the defendants, thanks to the early morning wakeup call, came into the courtroom later in the day in their pajamas with dour and subdued looks on their faces.
Merla and Zambrano allegedly took the most money over the course of the investigation.
According to investigators, Zambrano accepted a cash payment of $3,500 in September 2003 and, over the course of the next 14 months, he accepted another $5,500.
Zambrano’s attorney, Eugene LaVergne, said that his client is innocent.
“This is a very difficult time for him and his family,” LaVergne said.
Merla allegedly accepted a cash payment of $9,000 in September 2003, and then took another $2,500 at a later date. The payments were in exchange for Merla, a longtime figure in Keyport politics, to obtain work for the cooperating witness for a bulkhead removal project and tree chipping.
This is not Merla’s first brush with the law. In 1992, he was charged by county investigators for accepting bribes from a mobile home park owner in exchange for sewer connections to the development. He was acquitted of all the charges on Christmas week in 1993.
Conversations taped
Accepting money was only part of the equation in the investigation. The complaints filed were helped in part by audio- and videotaped conversations that transpired over the course of the investigation, which went on for several years.
The conversations were shared with a cooperating witness, widely reported to be Robert Steffer, head of Steffer Demolition, based in Ocean Township.
On some occasions, there were up to two other men involved. The defendants were led to believe that these were employees of the contractor, when they were actually undercover agents working on the case.
Among the highlights were:
• O’Grady, responding to concerns about detection by undercover agents, said not to worry because he “could smell a cop a mile away.”
• Hyer, in a conversation with the witness, said, “We’ll do whatever you want … I know the game.” Upon money exchanging hands, Hyer then said, “You know I don’t say anything. I know the game.”
• Broderick, in a recorded conversation with the contractor in a Tinton Falls restaurant in May 2004, said, “I wish I would have known you sooner.”
• McCurnin allegedly had a conversation with the contractor and told him to offer Iadanza $1,000 and said, “If I know Richie [Iadanza], he’s going tell you ‘No,’ but you give it to him anyway.”