Deal in works to resurrect off-duty jobs for Jersey City cops

By Terrence T. McDonald | The Jersey Journal

Jersey City and its police unions may soon reach a deal that would allow for the return of off-duty jobs for cops.

The two sides have been negotiating for months, ever since the two unions filed a lawsuit in Hudson County Superior Court in January seeking a return of off-duty gigs. Mayor Steve Fulop slashed all those jobs that month, citing a string of now ex-cops who admitted in federal court that the program was at the center of a no-show jobs and bribery conspiracy.

https://www.nj.com/hudson/2019/04/deal ... for-jersey-city-cops.html

Jersey City cop unions plead with Fulop not to ax off-duty jobs

JERSEY CITY — The city’s police unions are threatening legal action if Mayor Steve Fulop dismantles the program that allows cops to work off-duty jobs.

Fulop vowed last February to phase out the program after a string of cops admitted using it as part of a criminal conspiracy.

In a letter sent to police precincts on Wednesday, Jersey City Police Officers Benevolent Association President Carmine Disbrow and Bobby Kearns, head of the Jersey City Police Superiors Association, say the matter will land in court.

https://www.nj.com/hudson/2019/01/jers ... -to-ax-off-duty-jobs.html

I-Team: Fired Jersey City Cop Spills on Off-Duty Fraud, Bribery Scheme

"This went on unchecked for years," the 14-year Jersey City police veteran says. "This was the culture. If you weren't part of it, you weren't trusted."

By Sarah Wallace and Michelle J. Kim

A convicted Jersey City cop is dishing dirt about a decades-old off-duty fraud and bribery scheme that has ensared nearly a dozen officers in a wide-ranging federal probe.

The officer, a 14-year veteran, told the I-Team in an exclusive interview that he was one of eight "pick" coordinators who controlled off-duty jobs, including traffic control, for private contractors. Off-duty work is only permitted when officers aren’t on patrol and with authorization by the city.

"The contractors would call me, I assigned the jobs out. I kept the best ones for myself," he said.

"I used to work two or three jobs at a time. If there was a job in front of me, I’d be working my patrol shift, and that job simultaneuously," he added.

The fired officer, who faces a possible prison sentence, said he was making anywhere from $50,000 to $100,000 a year illegally and that bosses looked the other way.

"This went on unchecked for years," he said.

So far, 11 officers have pleaded guilty in the federal investigation that focused on off-duty and no-show jobs. The highest ranking officer to be indicted is former police chief Phil Zacche, who admitted that he bilked the Housing Authority out of tens of thousands of dollars for off-duty security jobs he never worked. He’ll be sentenced next month.

Several sources told the I-Team other officers are being criminally investigated. 

Jersey City's director of public safety, James Shea, said," It was a scheme that went on for a long time. We’ve already closed down over 50 percent of the work that was being done. We ended it completely in the housing developments. We ended the escorts of trucking. We started where we saw the most potential for corruption. License premises, individual homeowners, the trucks that needed escorts." 

He added that the off-duty housing authority program ended months ago and the overall off-duty program will be eliminated by the end of the year.

"It was a corrupting influence on our entire department because there was so much money available at these side jobs," he said.

Shea added it is a strong possibility there will be more arrests by federal authorities.

The president of the Jersey City Police Officers Benevelont Association, Carmine Disbow, said in a statement to News 4's I-Team: "A program that puts approximately 150 extra police officers on the streets on a daily basis, at no cost to taxpayers, is a critical component of keeping our residents safe; yet Mayor Fulop and Public Safety Director Shea have refused to engage in any meaningful conversation about how to reform and overhaul it."

He added, "To paint the entire department as corrupt is unfair, unwarranted and simply wrong. If an apple has a few rotten apples you do not chop down the whole tree."

The convicted officer said he believes there are 20 to 30 more officers and supervisors still on the police force who were part of the corruption scheme.

https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/ ... -Other-Way-481575311.html

Ex-Jersey City cop gets prison time for no-show off-duty jobs

NEWARK -- A Jersey City police officer was sentenced to 18 months in federal prison yesterday for getting paid for no-show off-duty jobs in a scandal that has resulted in 11 officers pleading guilty, including the former chief of police.

"This was a criminal act of corruption and bribery committed by a police officer who was sworn to uphold the law," said Assistant U.S. Attorney Vikas Khanna at the sentencing of former Jersey City Police Officer Ehab Abdelaziz, 38.

http://www.nj.com/jjournal-news/index ... city_cop_gets_prison.html

Third ex-cop avoids jail time for Jersey City off-duty scheme

A former Jersey City cop will not go to prison for his role in a scam that netted him more than $12,000 in corrupt payments.

David Ortmann, 53, was sentenced in a federal courthouse in Newark yesterday to three years' probation -- six months of that in home confinement -- and was ordered to pay $17,620 in restitution to Jersey City and to forfeit $12,617.

Ortmann pleaded guilty in September to one count of conspiracy to commit fraud.

http://www.nj.com/jjournal-news/index ... cop_avoids_jail_time.html

Ex-Jersey City cop sentenced for off-duty jobs scheme

A former Jersey City police officer was sentenced today to 18 months in prison for his role in an off-duty jobs scheme that included paying bribes to get off-duty work he did not perform, federal authorities announced. 

Michael O'Leary, 35, of Jersey City, previously pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge John Michael Vazquez to one count of conspiracy to commit bribery and was facing up to five years in prison. 

Vazquez imposed the 18-month sentence today in Newark federal court.

http://www.nj.com/hudson/index.ssf/20 ... or_off-duty_jobs_sch.html

Jersey City moves to ax off-duty jobs for cops

JERSEY CITY — Mayor Steve Fulop and Public Safety Director James Shea announced at City Hall today that the city is moving forward with a plan to dismantle a program that allowed cops to work off-duty gigs, angering officers who say Fulop is punishing the entire force for the actions of a handful of bad cops.

The move comes as the program is under intense federal scrutiny, with 11 people, including ex-Police Chief Phil Zacche, admitting their involvement in a scheme that allowed officers to accept payments for off-duty jobs they didn't work. Shea said today officers' misconduct related to off-duty jobs is "much more widely spread" than what is publicly known and he suggested that the entire force knew about the malfeasance.

http://www.nj.com/hudson/index.ssf/20 ... f-duty_jobs_for_cops.html

Eleventh Jersey City cop admits guilt in off-duty jobs scheme

NEWARK — An eleventh Jersey City cop has pleaded guilty to a conspiracy charge as part of a federal probe of the city's police department that brought down a former police chief last month.

Juan Berrios admitted in a federal courthouse in Newark today to accepting more than $34,000 in corrupt payments for off-duty jobs he did not perform. Berrios, 41, faces a maximum of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine for the conspiracy to commit fraud charge.

http://www.nj.com/hudson/index.ssf/20 ... ilty_in_off-duty_job.html

Fulop faces police ire over halting off-duty jobs

Jersey City Mayor Steve Fulop's pledge to end a program that allows cops to make extra cash working off-duty jobs is leading to howls of protest from the city's police force.

The program is under fire thanks to a federal investigation that has led to guilty pleas from 10 people, including a former police chief, Phil Zacche. More cops are expected to be ensnared in the probe.

"For too long the program has been abused with police officers more focused on off-duty work than on-duty work," Fulop said in an email to The Jersey Journal. "The widespread corruption was known by countless officers within the department and the degree of abuse is astonishing."

http://www.nj.com/jjournal-news/index ... s_police_ire_over_ha.html

Ex-Jersey City police chief says he warned city about off-duty jobs scam

Jersey City's public safety director was warned four years ago about potential abuses by cops working off-duty security details at public-housing complexes, according to a letter obtained by The Jersey Journal.

The letter was written in October 2013 by former police chief Robert Cowan, whose successor, Phil Zacche, admitted Friday in federal court that he charged the Jersey City Housing Authority more than $30,000 for security details he did not work at the Marion Gardens public-housing complex.

http://www.nj.com/hudson/index.ssf/20 ... ys_he_warned_city_of.html

Fulop: ‘I would not be surprised if the [JCPD] off-duty jobs go away entirely in 2018′

Why Jersey City fired cop 2 months before indictment

JERSEY CITY -- One of the Jersey City cops recently indicted on an attempted murder charge over a high-speed pursuit was fired two months ago in part because the city accused him of taking improper cash payments for off-duty work.

MD Khan's alleged actions, detailed in a letter from a city attorney and obtained by The Jersey Journal, mirror those of the officers who have admitted in federal court to taking part in a conspiracy involving the off-duty jobs program. These new accusations surrounding Khan are separate from the federal probe, which has ensnared nine officers.

http://www.nj.com/hudson/index.ssf/20 ... p_over_off-duty_work.html

Two more Jersey City cops admit roles in scheme

Ehab Abdelaziz, 38, and Andrea Fahrenholz, 38, both of Clifton, pleaded guilty in Newark yesterday to one conspiracy count each and admitted they were paid for off-duty jobs they never worked. Abdelaziz admitted to conspiracy to commit bribery and Fahrenholz to conspiracy to commit fraud.

http://www.nj.com/jjournal-news/index ... ops_admit_roles_in_s.html