Former Jersey City Police Officer Admits Conspiracy To Commit Fraud And Accept Corrupt Payments

NEWARK, N.J. – A former Jersey City police officer today admitted accepting approximately $55,000 in corrupt payments in exchange for helping employers operate at worksites without the required presence of an off-duty police officer and for helping a police officer obtain compensation for off-duty work he did not perform, Acting U.S. Attorney William E. Fitzpatrick announced. 

Anthony Iannicco, 48, of Jersey City, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge John Michael Vazquez in Newark federal court to an information charging him with one count of conspiracy to commit fraud and accept corrupt payments.

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

Iannicco was a police officer with the Jersey City Police Department (JCPD) from 1995 to 2016. From 2008 through 2016, his duties included serving as the “assistant pick coordinator” for Jersey City’s West District. As the assistant pick coordinator, Iannicco assigned police officers to off-duty details. 

Under Jersey City’s municipal code, off-duty police officers were not permitted to receive cash payments directly from off-duty employers. Rather, the employers were supposed to pay Jersey City, which would then pay the off-duty police officers, minus certain fees, taxes and deductions, including an administrative fee payable to Jersey City per hour that the off-duty police officers worked. 

Iannicco conspired with numerous employers to cut Jersey City out of the process of hiring and compensating off-duty police officers. Generally, Iannicco permitted these employers to operate at worksites without the presence of a police officer when such a presence was required. In exchange, Iannicco accepted cash payments directly from these employers in violation of Jersey City rules and regulations.

In addition, Iannicco provided fraudulent off-duty employment vouchers to another police officer, identified in the information as “Co-Conspirator 1,” falsely representing that Co-Conspirator 1 completed off-duty assignments that Co-Conspirator 1 never worked. Jersey City subsequently paid Co-Conspirator 1 based on these fraudulent vouchers. In exchange for providing these fraudulent vouchers, Iannicco accepted cash payments from Co-Conspirator 1.
 
Altogether, from 2011 to 2016, Iannicco collected payments of approximately $55,000 directly from off-duty employers and from Co-Conspirator 1.

Iannicco faces a maximum potential penalty of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine, or twice the gross gain or loss from the offense. Pursuant to the plea agreement, Iannicco is required to forfeit the $55,000 that he received. Sentencing is set for Oct. 3, 2017.

Acting U.S. Attorney Fitzpatrick credited special agents of the FBI, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Timothy A. Gallagher in Newark, with the investigation.  

JCPD is cooperating with the investigation.   

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

Defense counsel: John A. Azzarello Esq., Morristown, New Jersey