2nd Princeton Employee Charged In Illegal Dumping Cover Up: MCPO

PRINCETON, NJ — A second Princeton employee has been charged with trying to cover up an illegal dumping crime in town, Mercer County Prosecutor Angelo J. Onofri announced.

Frank Casole, 60, who works at the Princeton Sewer Operating Committee (SOC) yard on River Road was charged Wednesday as an accomplice to bribery in the second-degree.

Casole allegedly helped Princeton supervisor Thomas Hughes, 46, of Browns Mills between April 1, 2018, and Aug. 31, 2018, to cover up a bribery scheme connected to the Mary Moss Spray Park project, Onofri said.

• See Related: Princeton Supervisor Took Bribes Allowing Illegal Dumping: MCPO

Hughes reportedly took about $3,000 in bribes from Pantelis Kounelias, 64, the owner of a construction company V & K Construction in Edison to allow him to dump excavated soil from the water park project at the Princeton SOC.

Casole allegedly knew of the bribe and also helped hide the illegal dumping by co-mingling construction waste with other waste so it wouldn’t be discovered, Onofri said.

Casole is scheduled to appear in Mercer County Superior Court on Oct. 31. Hughes, who was charged in June, is scheduled to appear in court on Nov. 20. Kounelias, who was charged in September, will appear in court on Oct. 30.

The charges came following an investigation by the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Economic Crime Unit (ECU).

The investigation is ongoing and anyone with information is asked to contact the ECU at 609-989-6365.

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