Ocean Twp. to file suit against former mayor

Ocean Township Council is taking steps to file a civil suit against former Mayor Terrance Weldon and other individuals implicated in an extortion scheme that rocked the township in 2002.

The council voted unanimously 3-0 at its Aug. 11 meeting in favor of a resolution hiring the Livingston-based law firm of Franzblau Dratch to represent the township in the lawsuit.

Councilman William Garagalo was absent from the meeting and Councilman Christopher Siciliano abstained from voting on the resolution.

"We are going to bring a lawsuit in Superior Court in Monmouth County against Weldon and others who paid him a bribe, for the recovery of those bribes plus punitive damages," attorney Stephen Dratch said.

Dratch explained that the township will seek the approximately $64,000 in bribes that Weldon admitted to extorting from three developers between 1998 and 2001.

While no individuals were specifically named in the resolution, Dratch said that Weldon will be named in the lawsuit. In addition, other public officials and private citizens, whose names will be announced at a later date, will also be named in the suit.

According to Dratch, the township is expected to seek punitive damages from Weldon and others who participated in the bribery scheme. The town is also seeking the cost of any favors the individuals received as a result of bribes.

Under state law, the township could seek as much as $300,000 in punitive damages from Weldon, Dratch explained.

The cost in punitive damages is "to punish [Weldon] and to deter others from engaging in that kind of conduct," Dratch said.

Elected mayor in 1991, Weldon also served as a member of the township's Planning Board. In addition to serving as a public official in Ocean Township, Weldon was also the city manager of Asbury Park.

Weldon, 59, was sentenced to 58 months in federal prison in August 2007 after pleading guilty to three counts of extortion in 2002.

During his guilty plea, Weldon admitted that he took cash bribes for assisting three developers to secure zoning and subdivision approvals on three separate projects in the township.

Weldon stated in his plea that he accepted $50,000 in cash from a Neptunebased developer who sought and ultimately received approval to build a 75- unit development in Ocean Township.

In December 2006, Monmouth County developer and Ocean Township resident Moshe G. Gohar pleaded guilty in connection with the $50,000 bribe, stating that he conspired with Weldon and a Neptune businessman to have the 75-unit development built.

Weldon also admitted to receiving three separate payments ranging from $2,000 to $3,000 each from a second developer in connection with a 328-unit residential development.

The former mayor further admitted to receiving a total of $5,000 from a third developer who sought to build houses along Mark Place in the township.

Weldon stated that he used his role as a Planning Board member to help the developers secure the approvals needed to build the projects.

Township Manager Andrew Brannen said at the council meeting that the township decided to move forward with the civil suit at this time because there is a statute of limitations on how long after the offenses are committed that a township can file such a suit.

Dratch will only receive a payment from the township if he wins the case and can locate enough funds to cover his cost, according to the resolution.

"[The township] only has to pay me anything if I prevail or collect," Dratch said. "Why not run with it if at the end of the day, I come up with no recovery and it doesn't cost the taxpayers any money?"

Should the township win the civil suit, Dratch will collect one-third of the funds the township receives as a result of the ruling.

Township resident and attorney Larry Loigman questioned the council as to why the resolution hiring Dratch did not specifically mention Weldon as the individual the township was suing.

"I don't know why it is that you can't say that you intend to recover money from the thief who sat up there at the dais a while ago, Mr. Weldon, who is in prison," Loigman said.

Brannen explained that the resolution did not specifically name Weldon because the township may also name other individuals in the civil suit.

"It'll go after any township officials who have accepted bribes and the private individuals who potentially gave the bribes," Brannen said.

Following Weldon's guilty plea in 2002, two other township officials and one private citizen admitted to accepting bribes or providing money to bribe public officials.

In March 2005, former township auditor Louis J. Gartz admitted to a single count of bribing a public official when he was the auditor for the township.

Gartz, who worked in the township for 25 years, stated in his plea that he paid $10,000 in bribes to Weldon to ensure that his company continues to be given public contracts within the township.

In addition to Weldon and Gartz, former chairman of the Township of Ocean Sewerage Authority Stephen Kessler pleaded guilty in July 2005 to taking part in $15,000 worth of bribes in 2001.

In his plea, Kessler admitted that he and another township official used their official influence to reward an unnamed engineering firm with sewer-line projects in Ocean Township.

While the township's civil suit may open up old wounds, Brannen said it is much needed.

"I think on one hand it brings closure to this, because the former mayor has had his trial and has been sentenced," Brannen said. "But on the other hand, there was still the issue of was there some responsibility on the part of the township to seek justice for the damage done to the community.

Dratch agreed with Brannen, saying, "It's simply the right thing to do."

"These people harmed the township and its taxpayers, and they should be made to pay for it," Dratch added.