Skip to main content
Press Release

Contractor Sentenced to 19 Months in Prison for Attempting to Bribe West New York, New Jersey, Official to Eliminate More Than $8.7 Million in Fire Code Violations

For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, District of New Jersey

NEWARK, N.J. – A West New York, New Jersey, man was sentenced today to 19 months in prison for paying cash bribes to a West New York fire official to eliminate millions of dollars in outstanding fines and penalties on buildings with fire code violations, U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman announced.

Victor Coca, 50, previously pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Esther Salas to Count One and Count Two of an indictment charging him with paying bribes to a local government employee. Judge Salas imposed the sentence today in Newark federal court.

According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:

Coca was the owner and president of a general contracting company in West New York. Two buildings in West New York had outstanding fines for fire code violations. The first building, located on Bergenline Avenue and owned by a friend of his, had approximately $14,500 in fines and penalties for outstanding fire code violations. Coca agreed to pay a fire official for the West New York Bureau of Fire Prevention, a witness who was voluntarily cooperating with federal authorities, a $2,000 cash bribe to eliminate the outstanding fire code fines and penalties. On March 27, 2014, Coca handed the fire official a $2,000 cash bribe.

The second building, located on Hudson Avenue and partly-owned by Coca, had more than $8.7 million in fines and penalties for outstanding fire code violations. Coca paid a $5,000 cash bribe to the fire official in return for the fire official purportedly reducing the amount due to the West New York Bureau of Fire Prevention to the initial fine amount of $5,000. 

In addition to the prison term, Judge Salas sentenced Coca to two years of supervised release.

U.S. Attorney Fishman credited special agents of the FBI, under the direction of Acting Special Agent in Charge Andrew Campi in Newark, with the investigation leading to today’s sentencing.

The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Rahul Agarwal of the U.S. Attorney’s Office Special Prosecutions Division in Newark.

Updated February 23, 2016

Topic
Public Corruption
Press Release Number: 16-053