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发帖数: 3337 | 4 TOMS RIVER — FBI agents arrived at the home this morning of Toms River
Regional School District Superintendent Michael J. Ritacco in an attempt to
arrest him on political corruption charges.
The agents entered Ritacco's house in Seaside Park and searched it room by
room, setting off a security alarm. But the longtime head of the fourth
largest school district in the state was apparently not home. The agents
quickly left, stopping briefly at the school district offices in Toms River.
His arrest would come three days after an insurance broker and a former
school official told a federal judge they padded contracts by hundreds of
thousands of dollars and used part of the money to pay bribes to a district
executive. Authorities did not publicly name the executive, but two people
with knowledge of the investigation identified him as Ritacco.
The two people asked not to be named because they are not authorized to
discuss the probe publicly.
Ritacco, who makes $234,000 a year as superintendent, has denied any
wrongdoing. He was expected to appear before a federal judge later today.
With more than 17,500 students and three high schools, Toms River is the
fourth-largest school district in the state. Ritacco, 62, has worked for the
district for roughly 40 years and became superintendent in 1991.
He is a former chairman of the Toms River-Ocean County Chamber of Commerce
and a vice president of the Toms River Police Foundation. In 2003, the
district named a 3,500-seat arena that hosts sporting events, concerts and
trade shows in Ritacco’s honor.
In April, federal agents raided Ritacco’s home and office, taking stacks of
boxes and a Mercedes-Benz.
On Monday, Frank D’Alonzo, the Toms River district’s former supervisor of
athletics, and Frank Cotroneo, a Morristown insurance broker, pleaded guilty
before Chief Judge Garrett E. Brown Jr. in Trenton to one count each of
bribery and three counts each of tax evasion.
Authorities said the scheme, which continued for at least five years,
yielded one unnamed insurance broker more than $1 million a year for his
services, and cited a district executive who received bribes.
Court documents said the executive employee -- identified by sources a
Ritacco -- demanded kickbacks in return for hiring a service provider for
employee assistance program services. The employee told D’Alonzo to collect
the kickbacks from the service provider and split them evenly with the
executive, paying him in cash.
In addition to the cash, D’Alonzo paid $20,000 on the executive’s home
equity line of credit, more than $26,00 for appliances for the executive’s
former home in Toms River and for the home of a relative of the executive,
more than $5,800 for the executive’s plumbing expenses, and nearly $8,000
for a car for a relative of the executive, according to court documents.
The documents said D’Alonzo, 53, of Lavallette, received $550,667 in
unreported income in 2004; $797,450 in 2005; and $208,101 in 2006.
According to the documents, Cotroneo had $151,550 in unreported income in
2005; $639,523 in 2006; and $890,171 in 2007.
Cotroneo, 60, directed the unnamed insurance broker to pay his $28,479
American Express Platinum credit card account, his $20,000 annual membership
fees to a Colts Neck golf club in 2006 and 2007, and $571,000 in
landscaping fees for Cotroneo’s home in Bernardsville between 2005 and 2007
, according to the court documents.
D’Alonzo and Cotroneo, who have been released on $100,000 bail each, face
up to 10 years in prison when they are sentenced on Jan. 24. |
