Convicted ex-pol: Feds offered me a deal to turn on Menendez, Healy

By Ken Thorbourne | The Jersey Journal The Jersey Journal 
May 12, 2015 at 11:09 AM

Minutes after he was arrested on July 23, 2009, Guy Catrillo — one of 46 people charged with crimes in the massive Bid Rig III corruption sting — says he was told he could get out of charges being filed against him if he said U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez and then-Jersey City Mayor Jerramiah Healy knew he had accepted money from Solomon Dwek, the government informant at the center of the probe.

Catrillo, a former employee with the Jersey City Planning Department, says he turned down the offer, unwilling to lie about the elected officials.

Healy -- who famously met with Dwek at the Medical Center Luncheonette on Montgomery Street on March 13, 2009 – finds Catrillo's story completely plausible, in part because he's heard similar stories from others, including campaign donors.

"I'm glad Guy resisted that temptation," Healy said. "Some people would implicate their mother to stay out of jail. I think it (asking Catrillo to implicate me) is an abuse of power and authority. Guy is a good human being and has been a good human being a long time."

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