Readers Continue to Push for More Answers on Meter ThiefÂ
If you have any information relating to the theft of money relating to the Village of Ridgewood meter revenues please contact John L. Molinelli, Bergen County Prosecutor at:
10 Main Street
Hackensack, NJ 07601
Mon-Fri (201) 646-2300
After Hours (201) 646-2700
All information received will be held in the strictest confidence.
Yes please do.Or as some poster have said. “The Bergen County Prosecutor is up to eyeballs in this” Call the AG office in Trenton and if you think they are working with the Bergen County Prosecutors Office then call the FBI.
Occam’s razor (or Ockham’s razor) is a principle from philosophy. Suppose there exist two explanations for an occurrence. In this case the simpler one is usually better. Another way of saying it is that the more assumptions you have to make, the more unlikely an explanation is. Occam’s razor applies especially in the philosophy of science, but also more generally.
Corruption and Government Fraud Bureau
The Corruption and Government Fraud Bureau gathers intelligence from across government agencies in New Jersey, and seeks to detect instances of improper dealings by elected and appointed officials, government employees and law enforcement officers, as well as those seeking to do business with government entities. The Bureau also works very closely with a unit of State Police dedicated solely to investigation and prosecution of corruption cases.
The Corruption and Government Fraud Bureau is actively prosecuting numerous cases involving official misconduct, theft, bribery, fraud and other offenses involving public officials and employees. The Bureau has expanded its investigative and prosecution efforts into the area of political corruption by increasing intelligence gathering, source development and improving the lines of communication with Federal, State, county and local government agencies. Further, the Bureau has developed and prosecuted several large scale corruption cases against public officials. The commitment to these efforts remains a top priority of the Division.
The Bureau has focused its efforts in charging elected public officials, returning indictments against sitting Assemblymen and other local elected officials. The Bureau also has focused on large scale thefts from public programs and election fraud. These cases resulted from the strong work of Bureau lawyers and detectives, often working very closely with our partners in the State Police. The Bureau has a statewide Corruption Tipline: 1-866-847-7425 and all information received through the Division of Criminal Justice Corruption Tipline remains confidential.
Ok, there you go. Call the AG office. Just like this blog it will remain confidential. PUT UP OR SHUT UP
All this speculation is for naught, the plain fact is the town was more concerned with getting money back than jailing this loser. When Hemmer stole over a hundred thousand dollars from the Ridgewood PBA coffers, his father paid the money back and he didn’t go to jail either. A meter man got caught falsifying summonses and got charged accordingly but got probation instead of jail. It’s within the prosecutors authority, with consent of the presiding judge to make plea deals and sentencing recommendations end of story all other conjecture is BS.
“Welcome to Ridgewood, the town where you can steal hundreds of thousands of dollars, betray the public trust, and get no jail time and no probation care of your friendly Bergen County prosecutor and judge”… why don’t we all just tattoo a bullseye on our foreheads and let everyone shoot at us with no consequences ? Why aren’t you outraged #5? is it because you’re a beneficiary of the free lunches and after dinner beers care of parking meter quarters ? You think that’s acceptable behavior of our municipal officials ?
Assistant County Prosecutor Daniel Keitel told the newspaper that the deal took months to negotiate and will “get as much of the money back to the public as quickly as possible.” Had the state tried Rica for second-degree theft, Keitel said he may have faced five years behind bars, but would not have been legally bound to return any of the stolen money.
The behavior is not acceptable but the complaint here is the level of punishment, and no I’m not the recipient of free lunches, and dinners, and beers. If you know so much contact the proper authorities and put pen to paper, I think your a disgruntled employee who likes to stir the s**t with no knowledge of how things work. The bottom line is he got caught and was punished, Your statement of “Let’s tattoo a bullseye on our foreheads and let everyone shoot at us” reeks of unstable thinking you might want to take a look at your medication and if your not on any see a doctor and get some. Many conspiracy theorists have anxiety disorders.
The bottom line here folks is that your elected officials were, and still are, aware of the lack of proper security & audit procedures related to the collection & storage of cash. To this date, NOTHING has been done to change the way cash is collected and stored. NOTHING.
It would have been far better to send out an anti-corruption message to current and future employees that theft of taxpayer money will not be tolerated, and this message would be best delivered with a prison sentence. It would have been a legal formality to serve a lien on the defendant, and not only that, the length of the prison sentence would have been measured based upon the defendant’s level of repayment at the time of sentencing. This is how criminal sentences is done in such cases.
Instead, we have a message that you will not go to jail, AND you are not expected to pay all of it back. In some twisted minds, this message actually conveys a message of incentive. The next person/s to get caught doing the same stuff will be able to use this case as legal precedent. Because, there will be many more cases like this and it would be far better to deter future cases than focusing on getting money back from this one.
Agreed #10, what kind of warped people think getting partial restitution on half a million dollars – that we know about – is some kind of good bargain for the Village? Nothing has changed, nothing. #8 is just an apologist for this poor governance, and thinks anyone who questions the system, as is, suffers from an anxiety disorder. What gives me angst is that anyone would apologize for this behavior and argue that Village got a good deal. People like this also probably think Villagers got a good deal when Gabbert re-opened the public safety CBAs in 2010 – at massive taxpayer expense and without labor lawyers present – just so he could create an excuse to ask the Council for a retroactive pay raise… “I need to get paid more than those reporting to me, who all just got big raises when I re-opened the CBAs”… that was a conspiracy to defraud Village taxpayers. Anyone who supports this type of behavior is simply delusional and part of the fraud.
Declan, punishment of others is not a deterrent to those who don’t think they won’t or can’t get caught or people who are desperate. We had the death penalty and people still committed murder. The cop in Ramsey who ripped off the Pba went to jail, and Hemmer did the same thing in Ridgewood a year or so later. The current thinking is to jail violent offenders and get public money back ,for theft and property crimes, so there is space for violent and repeat offenders. The only people who get a message from stiffer sentences are honest people who don’t have to worry about committing crime, there seems to be satisfaction from seeing someone harshly punished. This is evident when you examine the penal system and review the costs involved in housing a criminal, who will you house a violent offender or a thief who did not use force to commit his crime.
What punishment ? It wasn’t his money, so him paying back what he stole isn’t punishment. Again, all this says to would be criminals is, “Welcome to Ridgewood where you can steal $500K in quarters and walk free, with no jail time or probation, all covered by precedent from a previous Bergen County plea deal. Have fun !”
His punishment was loss of job, pension contribution, probation and restitution of money with failure to follow will result in incarceration. That is the punishment the level of which is unsatisfactory to those who want a pound of flesh. Every criminal plea deal stands on it’s own people can scream precedent, but the argument does not hold water, what goes on today cannot be force fed tomorrow, it’s in court rules and sentencing guidelines.
“with no jail time or probation,” #13. Better get your facts straight. He did get probation. But don’t let the truth get in the way of you rants. Just make it up as you go along.
A judge instead sentenced Thomas Rica on Wednesday to five years of probation.
The man stole from us, betrayed the public trust, and carried on doing this over a period of years. So why is losing his job and pension punishment ? He was fired for committing theft and fraud. That’s not punishment, that’s what he deserved. Why are you people defending him and the plea deal ? Just what is it you have to hide? Would Rica have embarrassed you and others if he’d been forced to testify in court ? Stealing from the Village is wrong, end of story.
So by your argument #12, we should release any non-violent thieves from jail and not give them criminal records – which Rica didn’t get here ? All those kids in Paterson with a criminal record for shoplifting should be released from any jail time, with their shoplifting crimes expunged from the public record ? That’s what Rica did, he shoplifted quarters from Ridgewood. No criminal record, no jail time, and not even full restitution. How is that fair to some kid who has a criminal record for shop lifting?
#18 Im just curious why did you pick kids from Paterson? Typical Ridgewood Snob.
#18 again with the rants and misinformation. Rica does now have a record for theft a 2nd degree crime. Just because he took a plea doesn’t meant he will not have a record. Really have you bother to check the facts on how many people go to jail for shoplift offense.
#18 you make no sense, shoplifting is a disorderly persons offense unless the perp uses physical force then it becomes robbery. Any of “those kids in Paterson” can apply for conditional discharge through the courts and also apply for a record expungement. Get your facts straight
#18 is just throwing shit against the wall to see what sticks. Must be a friend of the Right Rev. Al
All of you losers defending Rica and his behavior – you all sound like a bunch of retired cops who enjoyed more than a few free lunches and beers using quarters “borrowed” from the Village. Why are you defending immoral behavior? The only explanation is that you, too, were part of a high level fraud against the Village. Any one who defends corruption is corrupted.
Stealing from the Village is wrong, end of story.
Why are you defending Rica’s crime ?
#23 are you accusing retire Ridgewood Police Offices of being part of the thefts of money from the Village and using this stolen money to buy lunch and beer?
#23 Can you give us some names of the cops you suspect of being in on this theft ?
crickets
defending criminals ?
Come in #23. Are you out there? Gives us their name.