Ex-Newark deputy mayor took $25K, fancy jewelry as bribes, feds allege – NJ.com

A former Newark deputy mayor who had a stint as a state Assemblyman in Hudson County has been charged with bribery, making him the second person out of city hall to be charged in an alleged scheme with real estate developers.

Carmelo Garcia, who worked as deputy mayor and acting director of the Newark Department of Economic and Housing Development from 2017 to 2018, was charged Thursday with one count of conspiracy to commit bribery, U.S. Attorney Craig Carpenito announced. He is accused of accepting expensive jewelry and more than $25,000 in cash as bribes from two real estate owners, who were also charged on Thursday.

“Mr. Garcia has the distinct reputation of someone who rose from public housing to his current status as a devout family man and upstanding citizen,” said Garcia’s attorney, Tim Smith. “He has full faith in the process and looks forward to it proceeding to the point of exposure of the true facts and his full vindication.”

Federal agents late last month charged West Ward Councilman Joseph McCallum, Jr. in an alleged kickback scheme that involved developers, too. A person who worked as deputy mayor of economic development the same time as Garcia was only identified as a “co-conspirator” in McCallum’s case at the time.

McCallum and Garcia both held positions at a quasi-governmental non-profit called the Newark Community Economic Development Corporation. The agency is now known as Invest Newark and works closely with the city on development projects, especially a long-awaited land bank that just got further approval with the councilman’s deciding vote.

The councilman was booted from his position on Invest Newark’s board of directors after his charge was announced. Garcia, who worked as an executive officer at the non-profit, no longer works there.

McCallum also denied the charges he’s facing.

Two pawnbrokers who also own property in Newark – Frank Valvano Jr., 52, of Florham Park and Irwin Sablosky, 60, of Springfield – were also charged Thursday with bribery. Attorneys for the two did not respond to a request for comment.

Sablosky is the registered agent for 281 Passaic Street Urban Renewal and 123-131 Riverside Urban Renewal. City council in 2017 approved resolutions authorizing the sale of multiple properties for those companies, mainly for warehouse or manufacturing projects along McCarter Highway.

Valvano and Sablosky exchanged cash and high-end jewelry, including a $7,500 watch, with Garcia so they could secure redevelopment agreements with Newark and purchase city-owned property for projects, authorities said.

In June 2018, Valvano allegedly provided a person only identified in court documents as “Individual 2” with an envelope containing $25,000 in cash to give to Garcia. Garcia arrived at an unidentified restaurant in Mountainside with a gym bag and told Individual 2 to meet him in the bathroom, authorities said.

“Once defendant Garcia and Individual 2 were alone in the bathroom, defendant Garcia set the gym bag on the floor in one of the bathroom stalls and then went over to the sink to wash his hands,” federal agents wrote in court documents. “Individual 2 entered the stall, placed the envelope with the $25,000 in cash in the gym bag, and left the bathroom.”

Federal authorities point to text messages they obtained from the two pawnbrokers that indicate Garcia accepted $5,000 from them.

Garcia was replaced as head of Newark’s economic and housing department in 2018, but he continued working in the department as chief of development in the agency. Court documents say he left that position around April 2019 and became the manager of an unidentified consulting company.

He is listed as the director of the Irvington Housing Authority. But the 45-year-old, who resides in Hoboken, also has an extensive background in Hudson County.

He was a Democratic state assemblyman for the 33rd legislative district between 2014 and 2016.

Garcia was also formerly the Hoboken Housing Authority director. His time there was marked by legal feuds with former Hoboken Mayor Dawn Zimmer.

As a child growing up in Hoboken, Garcia has often said, he had to jump from a burning building that was set aflame by landlords at a time when more luxury apartments began to crop up in the city.

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Rebecca Panico may be reached at rpanico@njadvancemedia.com.