Arrest Made In Bribery Case Involving New Rochelle School District Official

NEW ROCHELLE, NY — An arrest was made Tuesday following a grand jury indictment in a corruption scheme that involved the New Rochelle School District. John Gallagher Jr., an executive of Aramark Management Services Limited Partnership, was accused of taking $150,000 in bribes from an unnamed Westchester construction company.

Aramark performed construction and repair work for the district for a number of years prior to 2014, the Journal News said.

Joon H. Kim, the acting U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, said the charge against Gallagher, 53, of Harrisburg, PA, comes from an alleged corruption scheme in which Gallagher solicited and accepted kickbacks from an outside contractor for the school district in the amount of 10 percent of the funds paid to the contractor’s company by the school district.

Gallagher was the district’s director of environmental services, overseeing buildings and grounds. The school district contracted with Aramark to fill the full-time position.

As the director, Kim said, Gallagher had influence over which contractors were awarded work by the district and over whether, when and how contractors were assigned work and paid for work.

From around 2009 through in or about 2013, Gallagher allegedly engaged in a criminal scheme in which he solicited, demanded and accepted bribes in the form of cash payments from an unnamed construction company, authorities said.

He allegedly took more than $150,000 in bribes from Mauro Zonzini, who owned the Westchester construction company

Zonzini, 52, of South Carolina, pleaded guilty to bribery of a public official, which carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison, and tax evasion, which carries a maximum sentence of five year in prison. He will be sentenced at a later date.

Kim said a school district official should be doing what is best for our children and their education.

“Instead, as alleged, John Gallagher demanded and received more than $150,000 in kickbakc and brides from a contractor for the school district,” he said. “We are committed to finding and rooting out corruption wherever it lurks, including, in our public schools.”

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