Former Operations Manager of Plainfield Transfer and Recycling Station Sentenced to Prison for Commercial Bribery Scheme

June 8, 2010 - NEWARK, NJ—The former operations manager of a transfer and recycling station in Plainfield, New Jersey was sentenced today to five months in prison and five months of home confinement for violating the Travel Act in connection with a commercial bribery scheme which yielded him more than $30,000 in cash bribe payments, United States Attorney Paul J. Fishman announced.

Michael A. Mongelli, 52, of New Hyde Park, New York, pleaded guilty on February 16, 2010, before United States District Judge Dickinson R. Debevoise to a one-count criminal Information charging him with traveling and causing travel in interstate commerce to promote and facilitate the commercial bribery scheme. Judge Debevoise also imposed the sentence today in Newark federal court.

According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:

In his capacity as the operations manager of the transfer and recycling station, Mongelli had the authority to contract with hauling companies that would dispose of waste and other materials for recycling and transfer. From October 2007 to February 2009, Mongelli repeatedly accepted cash payments from an individual who was contracted to transport recyclable material and waste from the transfer station to an incineration facility in Pennsylvania. Mongelli stated during his plea that the payments started at approximately $20 per load transported and graduated to approximately $100 per load. In exchange for these payments, Mongelli ensured that the individual continued to receive hauling business from the transfer station where Mongelli was employed. In total, Mongelli admitted that he received in excess of $30,000 in cash payments from the individual over time.

In addition to the prison term, Judge Debevoise ordered Mongelli to serve two years of supervised release and pay a fine of $25,000.

In determining the actual sentence, Judge Debevoise consulted the advisory United States Sentencing Guidelines, which provide appropriate sentencing ranges that take into account the severity and characteristics of the offense, the defendant’s criminal history, if any, and other factors. The Judge, however, is not bound by those guidelines in determining a sentence. Parole has been abolished in the federal system. Defendants who are given custodial terms must serve nearly all that time.

Fishman credited Special Agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Michael B. Ward, for the investigation leading to today’s sentence.

The Government was represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Christopher J. Gramiccioni of the U.S. Attorney’s Office Special Prosecutions Division in Newark.