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.