Brega Sentenced For Political Crime In Rockland County

NEW CITY, NY — A day after he was sentenced to four years in prison for bribery and fraud, former Rockland County transportation czar Richard Brega was sentenced for political campaign fraud, The Journal News reports.

He had pleaded guilty in May over a scheme to contribute to Rockland politicans' campaigns under other people's names. Brega, 51, was given a one-year sentence to be served concurrently with his federal sentence, which starts Feb. 1.

The Tomkins Cove resident was indicted in July for steering thousands of dollars in political contributions to the 2013 primary election campaign of an incumbent Rockland County legislator seeking the Office of County Executive. He was charged by a Rockland County Grand Jury with ten counts of Falsifying Business Records in the First Degree, class “E” Felonies.

According to the indictment, between April 2013 and August 2013, Brega used straw donors to
unlawfully funnel more than $40,000 in cash to the County Executive campaign of Town of Ramapo Legislator Ilan Schoenberger.

Brega recruited 10 people to contribute thousands of dollars each to the “Friends of Ilan Schoenberger” campaign fund. He provided the straw donors the contribution amounts in cash. The 10 included employees of Brega's company, Brega Transportation, as well as his family members and friends.

The campaign contribution limit for an individual donating to Schoenberger in 2013 was $9,221.

The straw donations were reported by “Friends of Ilan Schoenberger” to the New York State Board of Elections as individual contributions of the ten straw donors. Brega is accused of causing those records to be false, as the money that was funneled into the Schoenberger account was his own.

A “straw donation” involves the making of a surreptitious donation by illegally using another
person’s (the “straw donor’s”) name.

The sentence came one day after Brega was sentenced to 50 months in prison after a federal investigation into bribery, fraud, and theft from a program receiving government funds. He had been found guilty by a jury at the conclusion of a three-week trial in May.

Prosecutors said Brega cheated the Rockland Board of Cooperative Educational Services for years, bribing an official at the special- and vocational education agency to pay on phony invoices for work that was never done.

Brega's political connections went deep.

His transportation companies had five contracts with the county, including the Department of Health's pre-school and Early Intervention transportation contract, the Brega DOT Maintenance and Automotive Repair contracts, the Brega Commercial Collision contract and the operation of Transport of Rockland and TAPPAN ZEExpress bus services.

Corruption in Rockland County has been called endemic. SEE:

• Sparaco Pleads Guilty in Electoral Fraud Case
• Gromack Part of Federal Ethics Investigation
• Special Prosecutor's Clerk Accused Of Corruption In Rockland
• FBI Arrests 7 Over $14 Million Rockland Yeshiva Tech Fraud
• Rockland Suspends Brega, Bus Companies Under Indictment
• Illegal School Holding Classes In Stadium Funded Through Fraud
• Ruling on Takeover of Spring Valley Democratic Committee
• Plea in Ramapo Development Agency Fraud Case
• St. Lawrence Resigns Chairmanship of County Boards
• Reaction to Ramapo Indictments: Calls for Review, Reform
• Senate Passes Legislation to Fight Illegal Housing in Ramapo
• Rockland Throws Down the Gauntlet to Ramapo, other Rockland Developers
• Town Supervisor Stadium Fraud Verdict: Officials, Prosecutors Respond
• FBI Raids New City Test Lab
• FBI in Spring Valley Again
• Desmaret Sentenced in Spring Valley Bribery Scheme
• "Corridor of Corruption" Scandal Nets Another Guilty Plea
• Spring Valley Building Inspector, Businessman Indicted
• State Slaps Ramapo on Private-school Fire Inspections
• Firefighters, Officials Call for State to Intervene in Ramapo, Spring Valley Code Enforcement
• Tress Resigns from Ramapo Town Board as Part of Plea Bargain
• East Ramapo Trustee Accused of Using Fake In-District Address
• Director Takes Plea in Ramapo Development Agency Fraud Case

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PHOTO/ Rockland County District Attorney's Office