MIDDLESEX COUNTY — Former Middlesex County Sheriff Joseph Spicuzzo’s office was a one-stop shop for jobs and promotions, complete with two men who worked like clerks at a cash register to ring up the bills, authorities allege. The prices were steep: Those looking to curry favor with Spicuzzo allegedly paid $5,000 to $25,000, netting the political mainstay $112,000 over...
Former Middlesex County Sheriff Joseph Spicuzzo (left) and two men who worked under him, Darrin DiBiasi (center) and Paul Lucarelli (right), have been indicted on charges of conspiring to sell jobs and promotions for cash. MIDDLESEX COUNTY — Former Middlesex County Sheriff Joseph Spicuzzo’s office was a one-stop shop for jobs and promotions, complete with two men who worked like clerks at a cash register to ring up the bills, authorities allege.
The prices were steep: Those looking to curry favor with Spicuzzo allegedly paid $5,000 to $25,000, netting the political mainstay $112,000 over 12 years, according to an indictment handed up by a state grand jury Friday,
In all, Spicuzzo took bribes from eight people and used Darrin DiBiasi, a former investigator who paid a bribe himself, and Paul Lucarelli, a suspended sheriff’s officer, to collect the money, the 11-page indictment alleges.
"Most members of law enforcement consider their badge and honor sacred," Stephen Taylor, director of the state Division of Criminal Justice, said in a statement, "but we allege that Spicuzzo put badges and honor up for sale in the Middlesex County Sheriff’s Office."
Spicuzzo, 66, of Helmetta, also the former Middlesex County Democratic party chairman, forced young applicants to use all the money available to them to buy their jobs as investigators, the Attorney General’s Office said.
One of those applicants — DiBiasi, 43, of Monmouth Junction — allegedly paid a $5,000 bribe in 1999 for a job as an investigator, and then joined in Spicuzzo’s scheme. DiBiasi collected three bribes worth $35,000 total from 2002 to 2005, according to the indictment. He resigned his $78,068-a-year job a month before his arrest in July.
In 2008, Lucarelli, 46, of South River, allegedly collected the largest single bribe of all, $25,000, from a job seeker and delivered it to Spicuzzo, the indictment states. Afer his arrest in March, he was suspended without pay from his job in the sheriff’s office, where he has worked for 23 years and earns $79,972 a year.
In addition to the cash-for-jobs scheme, Spicuzzo also allegedly took bribes of $5,000 and $7,000 from a sheriff’s officer for two promotions in 2007 and 2008, the indictment said.
William Fetky, an attorney for Lucarelli, said his client "maintains his innocence." Attorneys for Spicuzzo and DiBiasi did not return messages seeking comment, but their clients have pleaded not guilty. The trio face charges of conspiracy, bribery and official misconduct, which carry a maximum sentence of 10 years in state prison and a maximum fine of $150,000.
If convicted, Spicuzzo would join former state Senate President John Lynch and former Perth Amboy Mayor Joseph Vas in the gallery of disgraced Middlesex County politicians. Spicuzzo was sheriff for three decades until not seeking reelection last year. His final salary was nearly $127,000, according to the county. He receives a pension of nearly $58,000 a year, which he could forfeit if convicted.
His replacement, Mildred Scott, did not return a message seeking comment.
Spicuzzo was chairman of the county Democratic Party for 16 years before resigning after his arrest in March. Former state Assemblyman Peter Barnes, elected as his replacement in June, did not return a call seeking comment.
Spicuzzo also resigned as commissioner from the New Jersey Sports & Exposition Authority after his arrest.
Arraignments for the three men have not yet been set, the Attorney General’s Office said. They remain free without bail. The eight people who paid the bribes are listed as unnamed co-conspirators in the indictment but have not been charged.