Clark Mayor Accused Of 'Abusing His Power,' Charged With Official Misconduct

CLARK, NJ — Long-time Clark Mayor Salvatore Bonaccorso is being accused of "abusing his power and position" for using township property and employees to run his business, Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin and the Office of Public Integrity and Accountability (OPIA) announced Monday.

Bonaccorso, 63, of Clark, was charged on Nov. 20, with official misconduct (second-degree), tampering with public records or information (third-degree), witness tampering (third-degree), forgery (fourth-degree), falsifying or tampering with records (fourth-degree).

Bonaccorso has been Clark’s mayor since 2001.

"Any elected leader who abuses his power and position and misuses public property and public employees for his own benefit, at taxpayers’ expense, betrays the public’s trust," said Platkin. "In this instance, the complaint charges that the defendant also abused the trust of officials in other towns, allegedly submitting fraudulent documents with forged signatures to enrich his company while circumventing New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection regulations."

An investigation by the OPIA Corruption Bureau found that, while acting as Mayor of Clark, Bonaccorso allegedly operated his tank-removal business out of his township office using municipal resources, by storing and maintaining the records for the business at the Mayor’s office, using township devices including computers and fax machines, and directing township employees to perform duties while working for the township, solely for the purpose of running his private business, according to Platkin.

The investigation also alleges that Bonaccorso and his landscaping and underground storage tank company, Bonaccorso & Son LLC, fraudulently used an engineer’s name, license number, as well as, in many cases, forged the engineer’s signature on permit applications submitted to nearly two-dozen municipalities for tank removals.

Allegations also claim Bonaccorso nor his company had the necessary underground storage tank removal license required to do such work.

Bonaccorso allegedly misrepresented to municipalities that the engineer was the on-site supervisor of the removal work, as required by New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) regulations, for all of the tank removals done by Bonaccorso & Son.

New Jersey law prohibits any individual from doing work on unregulated heating-oil tank systems unless the individual is certified or working under the immediate, on-site supervision of a person who is certified.

The investigation also found alleges that Bonaccorso arranged to have the engineer obtain a UST license and insurance and then also directly paid to maintain both. It is alleged that the value of the removal jobs associated with the fraudulent permits submitted by Bonaccorso between 2017 and 2023 amounted to hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Bonaccorso has also been charged with witness tampering, for allegedly advising a witness being interviewed by state investigators to provide false information, after he learned of the State’s investigation.

"Our complaint alleges the mayor was committing criminal acts for many years to enable his company to offer services it was not authorized or permitted to perform," said Thomas J. Eicher, Executive Director of OPIA. "The people’s faith and confidence in government is eroded when public officials act improperly, and my office will continue its diligent work to root out corruption."

Bonaccorso faces a sentence of five to 10 years in state prison and a fine of up to $150,000 on second-degree charges; a sentence of three to five years in prison and a fine of up to $15,000 on third-degree charges; and up to 18 months in state prison and a fine of up to $10,000 on fourth-degree offenses.

In 2022, Gov. Phil Murphy called for Bonaccorso's resignation due to a released recording of him using "racist and sexist" language. Read More: Gov. Murphy 'Disturbed' By Clark Mayor Scandal, Calls For Resignation

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