In a long-expected move, federal authorities charged Jersey City Freeholder Bill Braker on Wednesday with accepting cash bribes from a vendor doing business with the county.
Braker, 56, who recently resigned his post as a Jersey City police lieutenant, was also charged with mail fraud.
Braker was arrested about 9 a.m. on Dec. 11 at his home in Jersey City by special agents of the FBI and appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge Madeline Cox Arleo in the afternoon, where he pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Braker is expected to be arraigned on the indictment within the next two weeks before the U.S. district judge to whom the case is assigned, according to assistant U.S. attorneys Jeffrey D. Clark and Phillip Kwon.
In October, Braker resigned from his position as freeholder amid rumors of an impending indictment, only to rescind his resignation after being re-elected to office on Nov. 5.
According to the charges filed by U.S. Attorney Christopher Christie, bribes were allegedly paid to Braker by a vendor supplying psychiatric services to several county facilities including inmates at the County Correctional Facility in Kearny, the Youth Detention Center in Secaucus and patients at Meadowview Hospital in Secaucus.
According to Christie, the vendor cooperated in the investigation. Christie said Braker allegedly took bribes three times, two of which were taped by federal authorities, to award the vendor a 1999 $1 million contract and to help the vendor obtain future contracts and renewals.
Braker allegedly made numerous demands for cash payments from November 1999 through September 2000, and met with the vendor at various locations including restaurants in Jersey City and Secaucus, where he allegedly collected cash while being tape recorded by federal agents.
The seven-count indictment says that Braker took the cash in exchange for voting on the vendor’s contracts with Hudson County in 1999 and 2000, and used his influence to assist the vendor in obtaining a contract with the Jersey City Police Department. Braker had been a Hudson County Freeholder since 1987 and, at the time of the cash payments, was a deputy director of the Jersey City Police Department, holding the rank of lieutenant.
“This is another sad example of an elected official charged with selling his office and abusing the public trust,” Christie said. “Mr. Braker’s background as a police officer makes the activity described in the indictment particularly egregious.”
Braker was re-elected freeholder in November. Before the election, he had announced that he would be resigning as freeholder, citing a federal investigation. Upon re-election, however, he rescinded his resignation and remains a freeholder.
According to the indictment, Braker allegedly accepted cash payments and benefits totaling $4,880 from the vendor on three separate occasions.
After receiving a cash payment on one occasion, Braker allegedly told the vendor, “I try and tell people invest five or six thousand for a three-hundred-thousand-dollar contract; you’re way ahead of the game.”
Throughout the period that Braker was under investigation, the vendor had been voluntarily cooperating with the FBI. According to the indictment, numerous conversations between the vendor and Braker were consequently recorded, and two of the three cash payments were captured on videotape as well.
Conversations included one in which Braker said he wanted to obtain money “and Viagara,” although it is not clear whether he was joking.
Several of the counts in the indictment carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine, while the mail fraud counts carry a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
Ongoing probe
Braker is the second freeholder to be indicted in an ongoing federal corruption probe. In late October, Freeholder Nidia Davila-Colon was charged with passing bribes from a county vendor to then-county Executive Robert Janiszewski. Janiszewski pleaded guilty to taking bribes in October and had resigned a year earlier.
Although not available for comment at press time, Braker said in an interview after his Nov. 5 reelection that he believed himself innocent of all charges, and that he took back his resignation because of the voters’ show of faith in him.
“They spoke loudly that they still have faith in me and my ability to represent them as a legislator,” Braker said. “That made me realize that I should fight this to the best of my ability. I have been a good freeholder. I have been a voice of social consciousness on the board. I have been a positive force.”
At the time, he said he intended to take his seat in January.
First African-American chair
Braker was first appointed to the Board of Freeholders in 1987 to fulfill a one-month unexpired position when Freeholder Kenneth Blane left the board. He became the first African-American freeholder in the county. In 1991, Braker was the first African-American to be appointed as freeholder chairperson. In 1992, he was re-elected.
Given his extensive background in the Jersey City Police Department, the freeholder was named 1999 chairperson of the Public Safety & Department of Corrections Committee. Freeholder Braker also serves on three committees: County Government Oversight & Policy Review; Ethics; and Women & Minority Affairs.
Establishing the Hudson County Office of Minority & Women Business Enterprise in 1989 is considered one of the hallmarks of Braker’s career as freeholder. In 1994, Braker, along with the county executive, accepted the NACo Award for Excellence for having the Most Outstanding Minority & Women Business Enterprise program.
In the police department since 1970, Braker, a multi-decorated 30-year veteran who rose through the ranks of the Jersey City Police Department, was appointed deputy police director in October, 1997 – a position he held until 2000, when he retired, Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeffrey Clark said.
He has served in the Tactical Squad, the Administration Division, and the Patrol Division. Lt. Braker was awarded the POBA Valor Award for saving a woman’s life, and the NAACP’s Sgt. James Simpkins Award for outstanding police work. He has been the recipient of nearly every major award bestowed by the Jersey City Police Department.
Deputy Police Director Braker also has served as the commander of the Jersey City Police Community Relations and Crime Prevention Unit.
A freeholder since 1987, Braker served as Freeholder Pro Tempore at one point as was founder and standard-bearer of the William C. Braker Civic Association, which is dedicated to improving the quality of life of all Hudson County residents.