JERSEY CITY AND BEYOND — Jersey City Councilman Mariano Vega was indicted Thursday on eight counts by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in connection with the July 23 arrests of numerous public officials and religious leaders.
Vega, 60, was one of the 44 arrested on charges pertaining to accepting bribes from government informant Solomon Dwek.
Specifically, Vega was charged in the indictment with allegedly taking $30,000 from Dwek to allegedly be funneled into Vega’s campaign fund when he ran for reelection earlier this year (and won a fourth term). Some of the money also allegedly went to Vega after the election for Vega’s future help in helping Dwek get approvals for a purported project on Garfield Avenue.
However, a new issue that has been brought up in the indictment was Vega allegedly lied to FBI agents who questioned him on July 22 — the day before his arrest — by saying that he did not know Dwek when shown a photograph of him, despite their having several meetings together.
Since the arrests, Vega has already been under a dark cloud since he steadfastly refused to step down from his council seat amidst calls from his council colleague, Steven Fulop, and from members of the public. However, he did give up the council presidency. – RK