Tuesday, April 28, 2015

The deck is stacked

If you have been reading this blog you know that come Thursday I will appear before Judge Roy McGeady to demonstrate that probable cause exists in support of a criminal charge against First Executive Assistant Prosecutor for Bergen County Frank Puccio.

What you are about to learn about that Courtroom and the attorneys who have relationships with Judge McGeady is startling and disturbing.

It started on January 05, 2000 when I attended an open public council meeting in the Township of Teaneck.  During the public portion of that meeting I was interrupted by a councilperson before my allotted time had concluded.

What follows here is the relevant portion of a transcript of that exchange:

William Brennan:....And that is what we call lawless, lawlessness in this country.  There is a rule of law and men in this country...

 Councilwoman Kieliszek:  Mr. Mayor.

 William Brennan:  ...and women in this country.

 Mayor Ostrow:  He has another half a minute.

 Councilwoman Kieliszek: ...No Mr.Mayor, the rules under which we operate includes Roberts Rules of Order and we don't accuse people of crimes, lawlessness, Mr. Brennan it appears you're representing the FMBA.

 William Brennan:  Your wrong

 Councilwoman Kieliszek: ..I thought so but it appears that way. 

Mayor Ostrow:  ..Mrs. Kieliszek remember our instruction.

 Councilwoman Kieliszek:  and I want the public to know that the FMBA is not accusing this council of being lawless or unethical or any of the things that Mr. Brennan nor is the FMBA using the time table that Mr. Brennan is using.  I want the public to know that Mr. Brennan is not representing the FMBA and under Robert's Rules of Order we do not allow people to come to this podium, accuse others of crime, as you pointed out Mr. Mayor there are avenues. There is an ethics board in this township, there is a prosecutor.

 Mayor Ostrow:..I pointed that out.

 Councilwoman Kieliszek:.If you know of a crime that's where you should be, you should not be here.

 William Brennan:  With all due respect Ms.Kieliszek we also have a Constitution in this country and part of a healthy democracy is the citizens coming before the governing body and airing their grievances and if I care to say that you and you and you and you....

 Councilwoman Kieliszek: ...you cannot say that.

 William Brennan: ...and you are engaging in lawless behavior, I have every right to do so and if you have objection to that you pursue your remedies.  Don't tell me what to say in a public meeting, don't tell me how to behave at a public meeting I am conforming with Robert's Rules of Order and I have three (3)minutes...

 Councilwoman Kieliszek:...(unintelligible)

 William Brennan:...and I have three minutes and you've chosen to interrupt me and under Robert's Rules of Order you are out of order.  This is a public portion of the meeting and you are not a member of the public.  If you wish to speak during this portion of the meeting you should get up, come around here, and take the podium.  Until such time you should save your speeches for the regular portion of the meeting. 

Mayor Ostrow:....Mr. Brennan.

 William Brennan:...now may I be able to finish or not?

 Mayor Ostrow:  You've had three minutes

 William Brennan:  I have not had three minutes.

 Mayor Ostrow:  Your now on tape, sit down or the police will remove you

 William Brennan:  You get the police in here because I am not finished.

 Mayor Ostrow:  Mr. Cramer do you want to respond.

 William Brennan:....Now you also said that the verge.

 Mayor Ostrow:  I warned you twice Mr. Brennan

 William Brennan: ..Let them come.

 Mayor Ostrow:  I warned you twice

 William Brennan:  Bring em on.

 Mayor Ostrow:...you pushed this town for three years and we are not going to tolerate it!

 William Brennan:  You aren't tolerating anything and you have no choice in the matter.

 Attorney Cramer:  Mr. Mayor.

 Councilwoman Kieliszek:  Mr. Mayor may we have a recess.

 William Brennan:  You do what you will.

 Attorney Cramer: Mr. Mayor I would like to remind everybody that what Mr. Lew said when he was here about a month ago, everybody talks about the rule of law. There is an Appellate Division case and second highest court in this state which says that the managerial prerogatives belong to the management and that is the reason why we are pushing the appeal of the PERC arbitrators decision.  We feel that that decision is directly against the appellate division case which says that is cannot be done.  The management is the organization that makes those decisions..

 Mayor Ostrow:  Mr. Brennan sit down.

 Attorney Cramer:  you talk about the Rule of Law that's the rule.

 
   William Brennan:  I won't, I was interrupted and now I'm    going to finish.  I have my three minutes and I'm going to  take my three minutes.

 Mayor Ostrow:  You have been at the microphone for six and a half minutes now

 William Brennan:  yeah and how much of that time was Ms. Kieliszek speaking?

 Mayor Ostrow:  I asked you to sit down three times you are out of order, you are discourteous, you are being abrasive and immature and you are not right and you are being antagonistic to the entire council and entire community and you are being watched on television by people that see that you do not represent the Teaneck Fire Department. I defy any Teaneck Fire Department member to ever act the way you have ever acted.

 William Brennan:  Are you finished now?

 Mayor Ostrow:  No I will be finished when my term is up and you will be finished when yours is...

 William Brennan:  Well we will do everything we can to make sure that happens soon.  

 Mayor Ostrow:  As a voter I hope you do.

 Councilman Gallucci:  Mr. Mayor the speaker's time has expired.

 Mayor Ostrow:  Mr. Brennan I want you to sit down.

 William Brennan:  OK Mr. Mayor, I am going to sit down now. 

Councilman Galucci:  Take a recess Mr. Mayor.

 Councilman Henderson:  Cut the tape off. Tape interrupted.
Despite having sat down without being afforded the three minutes of speech to which I was entitled, the police were summoned and I was then Ordered to leave the open public meeting.  When I refused I was placed in handcuffs and taken to police headquarters where the arresting officer had no idea what he was charging me with.  As I sat chained to a wall in a cell, the police waited for the meeting to end so that the municipal attorney and the mayor could direct them as to how I should be charged.  Eventually the mayor, two council members and the attorney were brought into a restricted area where they were permitted to surreptitiously observe me via a closed circuit camera.

The arresting officer was then directed to charge me with
"Disrupting a public meeting, specifically by posing the threat of physical violence."  
This false allegation would have been easily refuted by video tape maintained at the Teaneck public library.  It was quite unusual that this tape could not be located the following day.

The police officer, municipal prosecutor and the court still had a serious problem with my arrest since no one witnessed anything that resembled a threat of physical violence.  In fact all the officer could testify to was that on his arrival
"he was sitting quietly".  
 In order to "fix" this problem they had Mayor Ostrow sign a duplicate complaint charging me with
"Disrupting a public meeting by acting in a disruptive manner."
Because the mayor is not a law enforcement officer his charge required a probable cause hearing.

The matter was transferred to the Vicinage Court over which Judge Roy McGeady presided.  At the time Judge McGeady's Vicinage Court was limited to probable cause hearings and hearings on involuntary commitment.  During the probable cause hearing, Mayor Ostrow committed perjury by alleging that I threatened violence, used profanity and exceeded my time limit at the podium.

The mayor was unaware of the fact that an off duty firefighter had videotaped the council meeting from his home television when he gave this false testimony.

When I sought a copy of the taped proceedings before Judge McGeady it had inexplicably and "accidentally" been erased.

After Judge McGeady found probable cause he declared in open court that he would
"be holding onto this case" 
despite the fact that his court room lacked a prosecutor or any authority to conduct trials (he was limited to probable cause and involuntary commitments).

McGeady's unlawful act of "holding onto" a case for trial in his limited court, enabled Teaneck to hire a Special Prosecutor of their own choosing.

When Teaneck realized that I had a copy of the videotape that had mysteriously disappeared from the public library, they added another charge (Defiant Trespass) and had a police sergeant sign it.

At trial, Judge McGeady found me guilty on both counts and I appealed the decision to the Superior Court.  My case was assigned to Judge Conte (the first Judge to grant Doctor Ragi PTI for sexual assault).  Judge Conte dismissed the disrupting a public meeting charge and upheld a charge of Defiant Trespass despite the fact that I had committed no crime while at an open public council meeting.

On September 11, 2001 I argued that conviction before the Appellate Division and they decided that my "privilege" to attend a council meeting was revoked by the police when they ordered me to leave. Today that decision is taught to officers seeking promotion to a higher rank - law abiding citizens can be arrested for trespassing at open council meetings based entirely on the say so of a police officer.

A few years later I signed a complaint against Teaneck Municipal Manager Helene Fall for criminal violation of statutes that forbade her from suspending a firefighter (me) without a hearing.  The matter was transferred to Judge McGeady for a probable cause determination.  The facts were not disputed and probable cause was readily apparent.

Prior to coming out on the bench Judge McGeady had an ex parte (he met privately outside my presence) meeting with Teaneck's civil lawyers (who worked for DeCotis and Genova).  At that meeting Judge McGeady was presented with a letter bearing Angelo Genova's signature that had been back dated by a month in order to justify the unlawful suspension I was serving.

Judge McGeady should not have met with Gregory Begg (the civil attorney from the DeCotis firm) and Angelo Genova in advance of a criminal matter and he should not have been discussing my employment status or reviewing a document purportedly sent from Angelo Genova to a medical doctor three weeks earlier.  If that was part of Ms. Fall's defense it should have been presented at trial.  Based on this inappropriate meeting Judge McGeady found no probable cause for the charge I had brought and dismissed my criminal complaint.

Discovery in my civil suit established that the letter bearing Angelo Genova's signature and a date of August 09 had not been written until September, shortly after I filed my criminal complaint against Helene Fall.  

During a deposition of the doctor to whom the letter was written there was a discrepancy between the copy provided to me and the copy the doctor had on file.  A subpoena of the metadata for that document revealed that it had been back dated.

In a certification from the law firm (Genova Burns) they admitted that the document was back dated and claimed that "an associate who no longer works for the firm" used Mr. Genova's signature stamp without his knowledge or approval.  No action was ever taken by anyone against any of the attorneys involved in fraud upon me and more than one court.

In the years that have ensued I have publicly excoriated an absence of ethics that permeates the Bergen County Courthouse.

Recent revelations that DeCotis, Galantucci and Patuto handled $500,000 of Doctor Ragi's money before Ferriero received it and Molinelli ordered PTI twice for Dr Ragi vindicate each and every person who bemoans the sad state of affairs in Bergen County.

Judge Conte convicted me of trespassing in a council meeting long before he gave Dr. Ragi his first PTI.  Judge Conte is now retired and working for Mike Mordaga's brother in law at a Hackensack law firm.  Mordaga and Molinelli are codefendants in a wrongful death suit brought by the estate of a mobster who was shot in the back of his head.

Judge Carroll sits at the Appellate Division after giving PTI to Dr. Ragi for a second time.  If you watch the video of Judge Carroll at the second PTI hearing (embedded in the linked story below),

http://www.northjersey.com/news/questions-linger-in-case-of-teaneck-doctor-accused-of-groping-patients-1.1295566

it is obvious that Judge Carroll knows he is doing something unlawful during this proceeding.

Judge Doyne is suddenly retiring from his position as Assignment Judge, the Presiding Judge (Silebi) for Bergen's Criminal Division has requested a transfer to Passaic County and a pall has been cast over that whole building.

A charge related to the Office of the Bergen County Prosecutor should not be heard in any court in Bergen County - Judge McGeady has not recused himself and the probable cause hearing is scheduled to commence at 09:00 on Thursday April 30, 2015 at the County Courthouse in Room 309.
I have a history with Judge McGeady that goes back more than 15 years.

During that time Judge McGeady has:

  •  arrogated unto himself authority to try me (at a time when his court lacked such authority), 
  •  engaged in ex parte communication with civil attorneys while presiding over charges filed by me, 
  • had the official recording of proceedings erased after Mayor Ostrow committed perjury,
  • accepted as true a falsified and back dated document bearing Angelo Genova's signature in order to declare that probable cause did not exist to charge Ms. Helene Fall, 
  • been overturned by the Superior Court after finding me guilty of Disrupting a Public meeting
  • been repeatedly called out in online forums for the issues listed here.

The County's new assignment judge was once a partner of Dennis Oury and Judge McGeady reports to her.  My excoriation of Dennis Oury over his crimes is known far and wide in virtually every online forum where his conviction is a topic.  How the Honorable Roy McGeady can appear impartial on Thursday morning is a mystery that greater legal minds than mine will have to unravel

An appearance of impropriety requires action that eliminates that appearance - ask yourself whether propriety appears in Bergen based on these undisputed facts.  If you are an attorney who believes in the Rule of Law and you practice with integrity; ask yourself when you are going to speak up and out on these issues.

The foundation of our justice system needs an overhaul at 10 Main Street in Hackensack, shuffling a marked deck will not make the next deal any more fair than the last one.  This is our chance.

 

Monday, April 27, 2015

Dereliction of duty

Our system of justice is based on the principle that we are all equal in the eyes of the law.

When it comes to crimes committed by First Executive Assistant Prosecutor Frank Puccio those eyes are being averted.  The Office of the Attorney General is deliberately ignoring Frank Puccio's false statements in connection with a $10,000 contract.  Mr. Puccio's signed statement is evidence that cannot be explained away and is supposed to result in a criminal conviction.

When this false statement was exposed on the local news, the Bergen County Police Department opened an investigation.  Before they could act on that investigation the Office of Attorney General used it's authority to step in and take over the investigation. Without interviewing a single witness the Attorney General declared the matter closed.

It was the job of someone at the Office of Attorney General's to charge Frank Puccio and that person is derelict in his duty.

Citizens who learn of a crime committed by a public official have a civic duty and a legal right to bring a criminal charge against that official.  A citizen-signed complaint requires that a judge determine whether probable cause has been established.  Police officers and court personnel are empowered to make that determination without judicial oversight.

The judge's role in a citizen complaint is to ensure that the citizen has taken the same steps as a law enforcement officer would in finding that probable cause exists to believe a crime has occurred.

Reasonable steps by law enforcement include gathering evidence, reviewing video tape, interviewing witnesses and signing an affidavit.  If the citizen complainant has taken the same steps as a reasonable law enforcement officer then the judge must find probable cause.  This process is being modified in the County of Bergen when it comes to a complaint that I signed against Frank Puccio.

I gathered evidence that includes a signed false statement from Frank Puccio.  That false statement was used to extract $10,000 from the County Treasury.

I produced a videotape in which a witness unequivocally declares that the statements attributed to him by Mr. Puccio in that statement are false and wholly illogical.

I interviewed the witness and incorporated the content of that interview into an affidavit.

According to the United States Supreme Court an anonymous letter was sufficient probable cause to support a search warrant for a person's home under the "totality of circumstances" doctrine.

http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?court=US&vol=462&invol=213

In that trial the defendants were never given an opportunity to confront the witness against them and their conviction was upheld.  In the case of Frank Puccio he will have every opportunity to cross examine the witness at trial.

Come Thursday April 30th at 09:00 I will be prepared to make a scholarly argument regarding probable cause and I will present substantial evidence demonstrating that Frank Puccio made a false statement in connection with a public bid.

The document itself is sitting out in the open, everyone involved knows the truth of what happened and the eyes of the legal community are fixed on this proceeding.

This showdown will forever stain the hands of those who aid and abet the immunization of Frank Puccio from the consequences of his crimes.  We are at a dangerous place in society when an outcome on these facts is an open question.



Friday, April 24, 2015

The auctioning off of counterfeit by Bergen County Prosecutor John Molinelli

Update 6/12/15 - Judge Mizdol has ruled that John Molinelli broke the law when he refused to release the names of bidders who were issued refunds from the public treasury.  He is suing the public treasury to appeal.

http://pix11.com/2015/06/11/nj-prosecutor-loses-bid-to-keep-public-information-secret/


If an expert in a legal proceeding informs me that items I intend to sell are counterfeit and I sell those items to you as if they are authentic then I have have committed the crimes of fraud and theft by deception.

If I use the public treasury to hire a different expert who will authenticate forgeries before I sell them I have conspired to commit fraud and theft by deception.

If I make false statements to a County Purchasing Agent in order to secure a $10,000 contract for an expert who will authenticate counterfeit items as authentic I have committed a Third Degree crime under NJSA 2C: 21-34b.

If I commit any of these crimes in the course of my official duty I have committed the crime of Official Misconduct.

For some reason John Molinelli is able to do each and every one of these things in the course of his official duties and he is immune from penalty.

It all started years ago when the Bergen County Prosecutor's Office (BCPO) arrested a pharmacist who was illegally selling prescription drugs.  The BCPO seized the defendant's assets which included a substantial baseball memorabilia collection.  Prior to the seizure the Pharmacist sold his entire collection to a reputable memorabilia expert by the name of Robert Lifson.

Mr. Lifson evaluated the collection and purchased everything that was not counterfeit.  By the time the BCPO effected the seizure the only remaining memorabilia at the pharmacist's home was the counterfeit rejected by Mr. Lifson.

John Molinelli was not satisfied with seizing only the pharmacist's (defendant's) assets, he also wanted to seize assets from Mr. Lifson who had purchased baseball memorabilia from the pharmacist without any involvement in the illegal sale of prescription drugs.

In the legal battle between the BCPO and Mr. Lifson John Molinelli was placed on notice that
“With one exception, the material the State had seized had been rejected as not being authentic, was not genuine and had no value.” 
Years later Mr. Molinelli would conduct a public auction and sell the goods that were "not authentic, rejected, not genuine and of no value".  Bidders at this public auction were not given notice that an expert had made this statement in official legal pleadings.

In the interim Mr. Molinelli set about finding an expert willing to certify that the counterfeit memorabilia was authentic.  Searching far and wide Mr. Molinelli found "Pawn Stars" Handwriting Examiner Drew Max out in Las Vegas.  Drew max needed $10,000 Bergen County tax dollars in order to provide this service.

In NJ a contract of that size requires that at least three competitive price quotes be garnered and recorded before a Purchasing Agent may issue a check.

Instead of providing three competitive price quotes in support of his request for a $10,000 contract for Drew Max,  First Executive Assistant Prosecutor submitted a memorandum falsely claiming that he had contacted potential authenticators and that these authenticators had refused to provide quotes for varied (and fabricated) reasons.

One authenticator cited by Mr. Puccio as refusing to provide a quote was Mr. Joe Orlando of PSA Authenticators.  Mr. Puccio cited two purported reasons that Mr. Orlando refused to provide a quote and attributed both of those fabricated reasons to Mr. Orlando.

The first purported reason was:      

Mr. Orlando of PSA Authenticators stated that the standard practice of professional sports authenticators is to authenticate items only if they are permitted to also auction those items
The second purported reason was:      
Mr. Orlando of PSA Authenticators refused to authenticate the items because he heard a description of the items and the value of the items was too low to warrant his services
Each of Mr. Puccio's false contentions were exposed in a news broadcast on WPIX Channel 11 on a weekly consumer advocate segment called "Help me Howard."

In the video:
http://pix11.com/2014/11/20/nj-prosecutor-used-false-document-to-sell-bogus-memorabilia/

Mr. Orlando explains that he does not have an auction business and has never had an auction business, that he never refused to provide a quote and that he never said anything about a requirement that he conduct an auction as a condition of authenticating the memorabilia.

After watching the Help me Howard story I contacted Mr. Orlando who informed me that another reason attributed to him as a purported basis for him to refuse to authenticate items was as absurd as it was false.  Specifically, Mr. Orlando explained that he does not get paid based on the value of items he authenticates but rather for his time.  For example he said 
"If you want to buy a new baseball and write Mickey Mantel on that ball with your left foot, I will not charge any less to tell you that the ball is counterfeit"
Therefore Mr. Puccio's contentions that the Mr. Orlando refused to authenticate the County items were entirely false and wholly illogical.  As an aside Mr. Orlando estimates that he would have quoted $5000.00 to perform the work that Drew Max was paid $10,000 to perform.

As it stands now counterfeit baseball memorabilia is in the stream of commerce because The Bergen County Prosecutor put it there.  I am suing the Prosecutor under the Open Public Records Act in order to get the names of individuals who are in possession of counterfeit bearing a certificate of authenticity provided by a County Prosecutor.  If Mr. Molinelli had integrity he would track down and retrieve each counterfeit item and ensure that no one (insurance companies, future purchasers, auction houses etc) is deceived by his misconduct.

As we speak tax dollars are being utilized to conceal the identities of people who posses counterfeit, the location of that counterfeit and the manner in which that counterfeit has been disposed.

The Office of Attorney General was provided all of this information and conducted an "investigation" that failed to ask anyone a single question.  

When the County Prosecutor and his First Executive Assistant commit fraud, theft by deception, conspiracy, false claims in connection with a public contract and official misconduct the Attorney General should at least ask a question or two before closing the case.