The mayor of Clark Township pleaded guilty on Friday, Jan. 10, to using township employees to help him run his landscaping company, authorities said.
Salvatore Bonaccorso, who has been mayor since 2001, resigned as part of his plea, Attorney General Matthew Platkin said. As part of the agreement, he is permanently barred from holding any future public office or employment, Platkin said.
In November 2023, Bonaccorso, 64, was charged with forging paperwork to nearly 24 New Jersey towns to allow his landscaping company to remove underground tanks, Platkin said. Bonaccorso used township employees to help him run his private business, Bonaccorso and Son LLC, along with township devices like computers and fax machines, Platkin said following an investigation by the Office of Public Integrity and Accountability Corruption Bureau.
While running his business, Bonaccorso posed as an engineer, using his name, license number and forging his signature on permit applications submitted to towns for underground tank removals, Platkin said. Bonaccorso did not have the necessary licenses to do underground tank removals, Platkin said.
Bonaccorso, 64 pleaded guilty to conspiring to commit official misconduct and forgery, Platkin said. Bonaccorso and his company, Bonaccorso & Son LLC, also agreed to be ineligible from bidding for any public contracts, entering into any public contracts, or conducting any business with the state or its political subdivisions for five years, Platkin said. They are barred for three years from conducting, or contracting to conduct, any storage tank removals for any private commercial or residential property owners, Platkin said.
In a statement, Bonaccorso downplayed the charges against him, saying he only averaged two faxes per month over a seven-year period, and a handful of emails that amounted to a value of less than $200.
"I was charged with signing an engineer's name to permits to remove residential oil tanks," Bonaccorso said. "The engineer and I had a working business agreement including that his license would be used to apply for these permits, and he was compensated."
Bonaccorso said he was diagnosed with an aortic aneurism and a heart surgeon said he will need major surgery in the future.
"The advice he has given me is to control long term stress, blood pressure and weight," Bonaccorsso said. "As you can imagine any further legal fight over the next year would not be good for any of these. I will always advocate for the great town of Clark and the residents in it. It has been my pleasure to serve such a wonderful community."
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