Tag: Finance

FUND-RAISING ACCUSATIONS FAMILIAR TO PAL

By Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writer | Wednesday, August 28, 1991

The Record (New Jersey) | Four Star B | NEWS | Page B01

The arrest Monday of two men for allegedly passing themselves off as police officers to obtain $1,000 on behalf of the Hackensack Police Athletic League was not the first time a fund-raiser for the organization has come under scrutiny.
Five men hired by a Connecticut fund-raising firm were acquitted of charges stemming from their January 1985 arrest for solicitation of funds under false pretenses to benefit the group.
The men had been charged with using aliases instead of their real names in soliciting funds. Although police accused them then of impersonating officers in their pitch, they were never formally charged on those counts.
The Hackensack police said the Hackensack PAL is not connected to the department.
John Simonelli and Mark Carter, employees of Theatrical Marketing Services of Middletown, were arrested Monday and were being held in the Bergen County Jail on Tuesday on $7,500 bail each.
In 1990, Theatrical Marketing Services a Monmouth County firm raised about $106,000 on behalf of the Hackensack PAL, according to a financial statement filed with the Consumer Affairs Division. About $31,800 went to the PAL, with the firm and an office manager dividing the remainder.
Simonelli, of Pawtucket, R.I., was arrested after he gave John Carrino of Race Excavations Co. on Sussex Street a receipt for a $1,000 check that Carrino had given him in the presence of a detective, police said.
Carter, of Feeding Hills, Mass., was arrested shortly afterward at the 302 Ridge Road, Lyndhurst, office of the fund-raising firm. Police said they recorded a telephone conversation between Carter and Carrino in which Carter told Carrino several times that he was a member of the Hackensack Police Department.
Both were charged with wrongful impersonation of a police officer and theft by deception.
Ollie Hartsfield, a spokeswoman for the state Consumer Affairs Division, said they have no record of complaints about impersonations against Theatrical Marketing Services. The company has contracts with a number of other PALs around the state, she added.
Charles McHarris Jr., PAL executive director, said he did not find out about the arrests until Tuesday but declined to comment until he consults with the group’s lawyer. He said, however, that Simonelli and Carter were innocent of the charges against them.
No representative of Theatrical Marketing Services could be reached at the Lyndhurst or Middletown office.

Keywords: HACKENSACK; POLICE; FINANCE; FRAUD; PROBE

ID: 17353625 | Copyright © 1991, The Record (New Jersey)

N.J. CUTS ALCOHOL BUREAU

By Patricia Alex and Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writers | Thursday, March 7, 1991

The Record (New Jersey) | All Editions | NEWS | Page A09

The “backbone” of the state bureau enforcing liquor laws will be gutted under a cost-cutting plan that calls for 32 of the 72 enforcement agents to lose their jobs by the end of the month, inspectors said Wednesday.
The agents, who work for the New Jersey State Police Alcoholic Beverage Control Enforcement Bureau, said they feared the layoffs were the first step toward total elimination of the unit.
But Chris Florentz, spokesman for the state Division of Law and Public Safety, which ordered the cuts, said he was aware of no such plan.
Many areas of the division are facing similar cuts, as are departments throughout state government. “We decided these cuts could be made without seriously affecting the ability of the agency to monitor and regulate the alcoholic beverage industry,” said Florentz.
The bureau is charged with enforcing laws that affect the more than 1,200 legal liquor purveyors in the state, including statutes that prohibit the sale of liquor to minors. The agency also ferrets out illegal establishments and investigate liquor license applications.
“I find it very hard to believe that the state can lay off half our force and still believe that we can work as effectively,” said Edward Corrales, a senior inspector.
Corrales said the unit’s investigations often lead to fines that offset its operating costs.

Keywords: NEW JERSEY; ALCOHOL; GOVERNMENT; LAW; FINANCE; COST; LICENSE

ID: 17335424 | Copyright © 1991, The Record (New Jersey)