Clark mayor charged with multiple counts by NJ AG

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During a Nov. 20 news conference in Newark, New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin and the Office of Public Integrity and Accountability (OPIA) announced the filing of criminal charges against longtime Clark Mayor Salvatore Bonaccorso as well as the release of a long-awaited report examining misconduct by township leaders.

Following an investigation by the OPIA Corruption Bureau, prosecutors charged the 63-year-old Republican mayor, who has served in the role since 2001, with official misconduct (second degree), tampering with public records or information (third degree), witness tampering (third degree), forgery (fourth degree), and falsifying or tampering with records (fourth degree) – alleging that he used township resources while running his landscaping and underground storage tank company, Bonaccorso & Son LLC.

Among the notable allegations Bonaccorso faces from the AG’s office:

• Submitting false and fraudulent paperwork to nearly two dozen municipalities to facilitate his company’s improper removal of hundreds of underground storage tanks (USTs), including using an engineer’s name, license number, and, in many cases, their signature on permit applications;
• Operating the business out of his township office – using municipal resources, such as storing and maintaining records for the business at the mayor’s office, using township devices, and directing township employees to perform duties for the private business while they were working for the township;
• That neither Bonaccorso nor his company has the necessary licensing to do such underground-storage-tank-removal work;
• Arranging to have an engineer obtain a UST license and insurance – and directly paying to maintain both;
• That the value of these projects using fraudulent permits between 2017 and 2023 amounted to hundreds of thousands of dollars;
• Advising a witness being investigated by state investigators to provide false information after learning of the investigation by the AG’s Office.

“Any elected leader who abuses his power and position misuses public property and public employees for his own benefit, at taxpayers’ expense, betrays the public’s trust,” said Platkin. “In this instance, the complaint charges that the defendant also abused the trust of officials in other towns, allegedly submitting fraudulent documents with forged signatures to enrich his company while circumventing New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection regulations.”

“Our complaint alleges that the mayor was committing criminal acts for many years to enable his company to offer services it was not authorized or permitted to perform,” said Thomas Eicher, executive director of OPIA. “The people’s faith and confidence in government is eroded when public officials act improperly, and my office will continue its diligent work to root out corruption.”

Meanwhile, the release of the 43-page report by the Attorney General’s Office follows a multiyear investigation into allegations of misconduct by leaders of Clark’s municipal government and its police department.

The report recommends the firing of two police department officials, including Police Chief Pedro Matos, and makes referrals for further action to four entities, including the Division on Civil Rights.

During the course of the investigation, the use of racist, sexist and antisemitic slurs was uncovered by investigators when it came to discussing hiring practices and police actions by township officials including Bonaccorso and Matos as well as the head of the internal affairs unit.

“There is a social contract that imposes an expectation that officials in positions of government and law enforcement leadership will do the right thing, act not in self-interest but in service to the greater good, and treat all people with respect and dignity as equals,” said Platkin. “These are not naïve ideals or lofty ambitions, but rather the bare minimum expectations communities should have in their leaders. The leaders in the Clark Police Department, and the Township more generally, failed to keep up their end of that bargain.”

Bonaccorso has retained Westfield-based Stahl Gasiorowski as defense counsel. In a statement to NJBIZ, his attorney, Robert Stahl, said that Bonaccorso denies each and every allegation contained in the criminal complaint.

“The Attorney General’s Office has been investigating Clark Township and its various officials for years. What they now bring are criminal charges that the evidence will demonstrate are faulty and incorrect, and a report that did not lead to any criminal charges but rather only besmirches Mayor Bonaccorso, the town, and the police force,” Stahl said in the statement. “Mayor Bonaccorso will vigorously defend this case and will ultimately clear his name and reputation. Mayor Bonaccorso has devoted himself to the betterment of all the citizens of Clark for many, many years of public service. We are disappointed the Attorney General’s Office brought this case and looking forward to vigorously defending our client in court.”

A town spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The full report can be found here.