New Brunswick Meter Reader Admits He Took Bribes

NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ — A suspended meter reader for the New Brunswick Water Department pleaded guilty Friday to a corruption charge. Prosecutors say William “Billi” Ortiz, 56, who lives in North Brunswick, N.J., plotted to reduce the water and sewer bills of numerous customers in return for bribes.

Ortiz, who is pictured above, pleaded guilty Friday to a second-degree charge of official misconduct. A clerk for the New Brunswick Water Department, Joseph “Gordo” DeBonis, 55, of Toms River, also pleaded guilty to concocting the scheme.

DeBonis will face a recommended sentence of five years in state prison, including two years of parole ineligibility, and Ortiz will face a recommended sentence of five years in state prison, including one year of parole ineligibility.

Ortiz and DeBonis illegally reduced water and sewer bills for roughly 50 different properties over a period of several years in return for bribes totaling approximately $20,000, prosectors said. In one scheme involving both Ortiz and DeBonis, Ortiz served as the middleman and recruiter for DeBonis. Ortiz would solicit bribes from customers and then arrange for bill reductions through DeBonis, who had access as a senior account clerk to the city’s water and sewer database. After Ortiz received the bribe, he provided DeBonis with information about the customer’s properties, and DeBonis modified the customer’s water and sewer bills to dramatically reduce the charges. Fees were reduced at times by as much as 90 percent.

DeBonis took a share of the bribe payments in return for falsifying the bills.

Ortiz also engaged in a second type of scheme. In this scheme, Ortiz would solicit bribes from customers in exchange for which he offered to switch out the customer’s water meter and install a faulty, antiquated brass meter – which he nicknamed the “thief” – that would keep the customer’s bill down by failing to record water usage. Ortiz would leave the properly working electronic meter on the premises and connected to power, and he would tell the customer to swap back the electronic meter near the end of the month, so the bill would not be suspiciously low.

It is estimated that the total loss to the City of New Brunswick as a result of the schemes perpetrated by Ortiz and Debonis was roughly $500,000.

Both men must forfeit their public positions and pensions, and they will be permanently barred from public employment.

Individuals who report public corruption may be able to receive up to a $25,000 reward. The Division of Criminal Justice has a toll-free tip line 866-TIPS-4CJ for the public to confidentially report public corruption. Information on the Public Corruption Reward Program is posted at this link: http://www.nj.gov/oag/corruption/reward-info.html

Defense Attorneys

For DeBonis: Stephen Colianni, Esq., Law Offices of S. Karl Mohel, Toms River, N.J.

For Ortiz: Joshua Altman, Esq., Benedict and Altman, New Brunswick, N.J.

Top photo: William "Billi" Ortiz. Photos released by New Jersey Attorney General's Office.