Former Hudson County employee whose sting-related charges were dropped before trial is getting $293,000 settlement for back pay and legal fees in fight to regain job

Friday, May 20, 2011
By TERRENCE T. McDONALD
JOURNAL STAFF WRITER

A former Hudson County employee who was not rehired by the county even after federal corruption charges against him were dropped will receive $293,000 from the county in a settlement reached this week.

Richard Greene, one of 46 defendants charged in the massive 2009 Operation Bid Rig III sweep, was suspended without pay after his arrest, but not rehired when the feds dropped the extortion charges a year later.

The settlement, reached after Greene nearly sued the county on racial discrimination charges, is for back pay and legal fees, according to county spokesman Jim Kennelly. Greene has also agreed to no longer seek employment with the county, Kennelly added.

"This closes the matter," he said.

Kennelly said Greene's termination stemmed from his being "caught up in an effort" to bribe former assemblyman and Jersey City mayoral candidate L. Harvey Smith. Once Smith's aide, Greene was accused of passing Smith a $5,000 bribe from federal informant Solomon Dwek.

Two days before Smith's November 2010 trial started, the U.S. Attorney's Office without comment dropped the charges against Greene, a county purchasing agent and head of the Hudson County Office of Business Opportunity.

Greene then testified against Smith, who was eventually acquitted of accepting bribes.

In January, Greene attempted to get his old job back, but was told a month later that because of "potential criminal activity" and misrepresenting time records, he would not be reinstated, according to a complaint Greene's attorney had prepared on Monday before reaching the settlement with the county.

Greene's complaint noted that county Department of Roads and Public Property Director Harold "Bud" Demellier admitted to the Star-Ledger in March that he met several times with Dwek and took $20,000 from him for "consulting work."

Greene, who is black, alleged that the county never disciplined Demellier for this admission because he is white. Not so, Kennelly says.

"Our counsel's office determined that their cases are entirely different," Kennelly said, adding that Demellier was working for his personal consulting business, while Greene was not.