West Orange Man Pleads Guilty In Kickback Payment Scheme: Prosecutor

West Orange, NJ - Authorities announced that a former high-ranking employee of the Newark Watershed Conservation and Development Corp. (NWCDC) has admitted to accepting $956,948 in kickback payments for his and the former executive director’s assistance in awarding work to contractors.

According to a release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office (NJ), Donald Bernard Sr., 68, of West Orange, pleaded guilty on Tuesday before U.S. District Judge Jose Linares in Newark federal court to Counts 9 and 10 of a 20-count indictment returned in December 2014, charging him with the use of interstate facilities to promote and facilitate bribery in violation of the Travel Act, and Count 1 of an information that charges him with making and subscribing a false personal tax return for the 2009 tax year.

Prosecutors added that separately, Giacomo “Jack” DeRosa, 59, of Clinton Township, New Jersey, who was previously indicted in December 2014, pleaded guilty today to Counts 4 through 6 of the indictment charging him with laundering a portion of $85,000 he provided to Bernard from January 2008 to August 2012 in connection with roofing work that Bernard facilitated for DeRosa with the NWCDC.