Home Newark Press Releases 2010 Former Jersey City Planning Aide Sentenced to 18 Months in Prison for Taking $15,000 in Bribes
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Former Jersey City Planning Aide Sentenced to 18 Months in Prison for Taking $15,000 in Bribes

U.S. Attorney’s Office January 22, 2010
  • District of New Jersey (973) 645-2888

NEWARK—Guy Catrillo, a former Jersey City senior planning aide and failed City Council candidate, was sentenced to 18 months in federal prison today for accepting $15,000 in cash bribes in exchange for his official action in attempting to obtain real estate development approvals, U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman announced.

U.S. District Judge Jose L. Linares also ordered Catrillo, 55, to pay a $4,000 fine, and to serve three years of supervised release upon the completion of his prison term. As required, Catrillo has forfeited $15,000, the amount of the corrupt payments that he received, to the government. Judge Linares continued Catrillo’s release on a $50,000 bond pending his surrender to officials with the U.S. Bureau of Prisons on or before March 15.

Catrillo pleaded guilty before Judge Linares on Sept. 9, 2009, to a one-count criminal Information that charged him with attempted extortion under color of official right. At his plea hearing, Catrillo admitted that he accepted $15,000 in bribes from a government cooperating witness (“CW”) in return for attempting to obtain real estate development approvals on behalf of the CW.

Today’s sentencing is the first resulting from a two-track undercover FBI investigation into political corruption and international money laundering which resulted in the charging of 44 individuals via criminal Complaints on July 23.

At his plea hearing, Catrillo admitted that, between February 2009 and May 2009, he accepted a total of $15,000 in corrupt payments from the CW. Catrillo admitted that the payments were in exchange for his official assistance as a senior planning aide at the Jersey City Division of City Planning (“JCDCP”), and for his future official assistance as an anticipated member of the City Council, in attempting to obtain certain development approvals for a Garfield Avenue property. (In May 2009, Catrillo unsuccessfully ran as a candidate for the Jersey City Municipal Council, Ward E).

Catrillo also admitted that he used his influence as a JCDCP member to arrange a meeting between the JCDCP Planning Director and an individual affiliated with the CW where the possible purchase of other development properties in Jersey City was to be discussed. In determining the actual sentence, Judge Linares consulted the advisory U.S. Sentencing Guidelines, which recommend sentencing ranges that take into account the severity and characteristics of the offenses, the defendants’ criminal histories, if any, and other factors, including acceptance of responsibility. The judge, however, has discretion and is not bound by those guidelines in determining a sentence.

Parole has been abolished in the federal system. Defendants who are given custodial terms must serve nearly all of that time.

Fishman credited Special Agents with the FBI, under the direction of Acting Special Agent in Charge Kevin B. Cruise, and the IRS Criminal Investigation Division, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge William P. Offord, for the investigation. Fishman also thanked the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office, under the direction of Prosecutor Luis A. Valentin, for their assistance in the investigation.

The case against Catrillo was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Christopher J. Gramiccioni of the U.S. Attorney’s Office Special Prosecutions Division in Newark.

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