Two NB town employees charged with theft; impacts mayoral campaign

NORTH BERGEN – Two North Bergen township employees were charged this week with allegedly falsifying their time sheets to collect pay for time when they were not on the job. The allegations followed a raid by the New Jersey Attorney General on the North Bergen Parks and Recreation Department offices in March.
The two employees, Abraham Garcia, 56, of North Bergen, and Walter Somick, 46, of Wayne, were charged with stealing over 110 hours each by claiming to be at work when they were at home or elsewhere. They were served with summonses and not arrested, according to standard procedure for this type of allegation.
“We charge that these men were corruptly collecting substantial salaries at the expense of municipal taxpayers for hours when they never even showed up for work,” acting state Attorney General John Hoffman was quoted as saying.
The two men are both employed as recreational aides by the township. Garcia also works as a supervisor of security for the North Bergen Board of Education and serves as an assistant football coach at the high school. Somick also works as a union electrician.
The township is standing by both men while the investigation is underway. “These two employees have been a vital part of the department for many years,” said town representative Paul Swibinski. “There’s no question that they are two very valuable employees. The only question involves how they completed their time sheets.”
Swibinski stated that the administration was “very surprised” to see charges so close to the election municipal election, which takes place on May 12.
“These guys deserve a chance to clear their names,” he said. “In the meantime they are suspended without pay in accordance with township policy.”
Mayoral candidate Larry Wainstein pounced on the allegations, first calling for Nicholas Sacco to resign as mayor, and then calling for him to give to taxpayers any money that may have been contributed to his campaign by Somick. “This man is a [alleged] criminal who stole money from the township and then turns around to donate that money to Sacco’s political machine,” said Wainstein in a press release.
Regarding the question of possible contributions by Somick to Sacco’s administration, Swibinski said, “I don’t have any specific details but I suspect [Wainstein’s team has] gone back many years and taken tickets Walter bought to attend two big annual fundraisers, in fall and spring. He, like myself and a lot of people, probably bought tickets and if you add that up [over the years] it comes to a couple thousand dollars.”