BAYONNE – A city law enforcement officer already charged by federal officials with alleged police brutality has additionally been charged with allegedly obtaining a fraudulent loan, one intended for lower income residents, according to a criminal complaint handed down by the United States District Court, the District of New Jersey.
Domenico Lillo, 44, a Bayonne police officer, and his wife, Rose, a clerk in the city’s Building Department, appeared in federal court in Newark on Friday, Jan. 30, for their initial appearance on the two charges, according to Matt Reilly, a spokesman for the United States Attorney’s Office.
Count one charged that the couple, “Did knowingly and intentionally conspire and agree with themselves and others to commit an offense against the United States, namely: to embezzle, steal, purloin and convert to their use, and the use of others, money and things of value to the United States and of a department and agency thereof …” The agency was the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Count two charged that Mr. Lillo “Did knowingly and willfully make a material false, fictitious, and fraudulent statement and representation to special agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and U.S. HUD, Office of Inspector General.”
According to the criminal complaint, the Lillos and a relative allegedly took out a mortgage together to purchase a house in Bayonne in 2012.
Following that, Mrs. Lillo allegedly “caused” the relative to submit a home improvement loan application to the city’s Department of Community Development – an agency that receives federal money – that listed the relative as the sole owner of the new home, the complaint said.
The relative had an annual income of $24,000 from Social Security and a pension, which qualified him for the $20,000 home rehabilitation loan, according to the complaint.
The check was issued on June 20, 2012. Sometime during July 2012, the Lillos allegedly moved into the new home, according the complaint.
Additionally, the complaint charges that when special agents of the FBI and HUD-OIG visited Mr. Lillo in March 2013 to question him about whether he had allegedly fraudulently obtained the $20,000 loan that “he [allegedly] falsely stated he lived across the street” in a different house.
Mrs. Lillo was released on an unsecured bond of $10,000, according to Will Skaggs, a spokesman for the United States Attorney’s Office.
Mr. Lillo had been arrested by the FBI on Jan. 23 and charged with allegedly violating a defendant’s civil rights by using excessive force during a 2013 arrest, as well as allegedly falsifying records in an attempt to conceal the alleged crime, according to U.S. Attorney Paul Fishman.
Lillo allegedly struck the subject of an arrest warrant with a flashlight while the individual was handcuffed and not resisting arrest on Dec. 27, 2013, according to federal authorities.
Lillo is one of the defendants in a federal lawsuit filed last November by Brandon Walsh, 26, and his family, according to a report on nj.com.
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