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The payments came in conjunction with the sentencing on Wednesday, April 6 of Raphael S. Weiss, 61, of Brooklyn, on charges of forgery and computer-related activity in exchange for a suspended five-year prison sentence, according to Burlington County Prosecutor Scott Coffina.
The developer purchased a historic Riverside Township commercial building to create luxury apartments. He has transferred ownership of the property under his sentencing agreement, a move that will allow work on the seven-story landmark to resume under a new developer, Coffina said.
Weiss, who pleaded guilty in January, admitted to using the credentials of a potential subcontractor to fraudulently gain approval for electrical permits from the township construction office.
The investigation began in 2020 after a contractor who was negotiating with Weiss to be the electrical subcontractor on the Keystone Watch Case Co. building redevelopment project noticed that electrical work had begun at the North Pavilion Avenue site, even though no formal agreement had been finalized and he had not applied for any permits, Coffina said.
After being denied access to the construction site by Weiss, the electrician went to the township construction office and was told that 36 permits had already been issued in his name, and in the name of his business, for work to be done at the property, Coffina said.
Further examination revealed that the electrician’s signature had been forged on the permits, which were applied for by Weiss, and a counterfeit version of the contractor’s state-issued embossing seal had been used to make an imprint, the prosecutor said.
The investigation was conducted by detectives from the BCPO Financial Crimes Unit and the Riverside Township Police Department. The lead investigators are BCPO Detective Nicholas Schieber and Riverside Lt. Louis Fisher.
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