JERSEY CITY — U.S. District Court Judge Jose Linares sentenced former Jersey City Councilman Mariano Vega to 30 months behind bars today for accepting bribes from a government informant.
Vega, who also served as the director of the Department of Parks, Engineering, and Planning for Hudson County, was among 44 public officials and religious leaders who were arrested in July 2009 as part of a Federal Bureau of Investigation corruption sting. He pleaded guilty last September in U.S. District Court to taking a $20,000 bribe from government informant Solomon Dwek. Vega admitted that he promised to expedite zoning approvals for a development Dwek said he planned to build on Garfield Avenue.
Vega also admitted in court that he had agreed to accept an additional $10,000 bribe from Dwek as part of the deal, although Vega was arrested before he received this final payment. — E. Assata Wright