Former Assemblyman Carmelo Garcia (D-Hoboken) was sentenced to twelve months and one day in federal prison for accepting bribes to help two businessmen secure lucrative redevelopment agreements with the City of Newark, where he served as deputy mayor and director of economic and housing development.
Garcia admitted to taking cash from former Springfield Board of Education President Irwin Sablosky and his partner, Frank Valvano, in a Newark pawn shop and check-cashing business, in a bid to help the two secure redevelopment agreements with the city.
In addition to cash, Garcia allegedly received jewelry from the pawn shop, William Rich and Sons.
U.S. District Court Judge Madeline Cox Arleo also ordered Garcia’s prison sentence to be followed by three years of supervised release.
Garcia, who came to Newark at the request of Mayor Ras Baraka, was the co-conspirator in a bribery and kickback scheme involving Newark city councilman Joseph McCallum and real estate investor Malik A. Frederick
According to federal prosecutors, phone records and text messages obtained by law enforcement document extensive communications among the three and others about the scheme, “including text messages in which Garcia arranged to personally collect cash provided by Valvano and Sablosky.”
In June 2018, prosecutors claim Garcia received an envelope with $25,000 in cash given to him by Valvano through an intermediary in the restroom of a Newark restaurant. Five days later, Newark approved the designation of Valvano and Sablosky as the developers of two properties through limited liability companies they owned.
Garcia, 46, served as the executive vice president of the Newark Community and Economic Development Corporation from 2016 to 2017, and as Newark’s Deputy Mayor for Economic Development from 2017 to 2018.
Garcia served as head of the Hoboken Housing Authority until battling with then-Mayor Dawn Zimmer in 2014. He was fired by the commissioners.
Hudson Democrats refused to back Garcia for re-election and he then lost a race for Hoboken city council. He was ousted from his Newark post in 2018.