Former Wildwood Mayor Pete Byron admitted to illegally receiving state health benefits that he wasn’t entitled to during a court appearance on Friday.
A plea agreement with the state attorney general’s office includes a recommended three years in prison, full restitution, and a permanent ban on public office or a government job.
“Illegally obtaining benefits is not what holding public office should be about. Rather, it should be about honorably serving the people you represent,” said Attorney General Matt Platkin. “This was a self-serving, nearly decade-long betrayal of the public’s trust that saddled New Jersey residents with a six-figure bill for the defendant’s personal gain.
The final decision on sentencing belongs to Superior Court Judge Bernard DeLury, Jr.
In March 2023, Byron pled guilty to federal tax charges. He was sentenced to three years’ probation, a $14,000 fine, and restitution of $7,014.
Byron and two other Wildwood officials, Mayor Ernest Troiano, Jr., and City Commissioner Steve Mikulski, were charged with official misconduct for taking benefits they were not entitled to as part-time officeholders. The prosecution of Troiano and Mikulski is ongoing; it’s unclear if Byron will become a cooperating witness or testify against his former colleagues.
He was initially charged in March 2022, but a judge dismissed the indictment. He was later indicted again after a second grand jury presentment.
Byron resigned in September 2023 – his name remained on the ballot, and he received 46 votes) but Troiano and Mikulski were easily re-elected and remain in office; a majority of Wildwood’s three-member governing body faces criminal charges.
Prosecutors said that Wildwood and the publicly funded State Health Benefits Program paid out almost $609,000 in premiums and health benefit claims for Byron over a ten-year period.