Lakewood, NJ – The political and housing brass here have long heard the rumors: Jeffrey Williamson, a housing inspector, was for sale. So they weren’t exactly blindsided by the news Thursday morning that the two-time Assembly candidate was arrested on bribery charges as part of a sweeping FBI public corruption probe.
Still, it stung.
“I’ve heard rumors over the years but was hoping they were just that and wouldn’t come to light,” Township Committeeman and former mayor Raymond Coles said.
One rumor that floated past Mayor Robert Singer and others was an FBI investigation looking at Williamson some three years ago that fell short.
Singer, also a state senator whose Republican ticket ran against Williams’ in 2007, did not want to raise the suspicions during the campaign for fear of political backlash.
“Every time we think we’ve got corruption behind us, its head reappears to again shake the people’s trust in their government,” he said, adding that “compromising the safety of people” by cutting corners on housing inspections was especially “offensive.”
Williamson was suspended without pay from his inspection job Thursday, pending the results of the investigation, Singer said.
The 57-year-old father of one was charged with extortion under color of official right. The criminal complaint states that the inspector of 10 years accepted some $17,500 in bribes from April 2007 to July 2009 in return for leniency on his property inspections for a real estate developer, who was actually a cooperating witness facing bank fraud charges.
During one meeting at a Lakewood restaurant in late April 2007, Williamson accepted $500 cash from the developer in the unoccupied women’s bathroom, according to the complaint.
A manager of the developer’s properties also was arrested and charged with introducing the developer to Williamson and assisting in the payoffs.
The manager told the developer that Williamson, whose “famous bribe line” was “why don’t we do lunch,” routinely accepted payoffs for half of the approximately 15 to 20 inspections he did a day, the complaint said.
“I guess everyone knew, and now it finally happened,” Mike McNeil, Lakewood’s fair housing officer, said Thursday of the arrest.
(Zach Patberg for the Asbury Park Press)
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14 Responses
The standard procedure for a prosecutor is to press the indicted for a bigger fish in lieu of legal leniency. I’m sure there are quite a few people that are very nervous this morning.
Unless he was the big fish.
You are are entitled to your own opinion, but don’t state it like it’s fact.
now it will be Jeff’s turn to rat out the corruption in Lakewood (90% of the inspection department).
and lo alino a lot of frum ppl as well.
as a Lakewood resident that had houses inspected by Jeff i could say he’s not going down alone.
#1 You are totally off.
Our good friend Jeff only did rental inspections, not new housing inspections.
As far a Jeff is concerned, I don’t know about bribes.
But “everybody” knows he was a very fair inspector. He didn’t make you get a whole new fence when there was only a tiny whole in it, he was the only inspector who had any brains, He defiantly demand fix up when necessary, but overlooked the small narishkieten, when the other Lakewood inspectors went to bat over the smallest things, and caused much unnecessary aggravation, such as getting a whole new fence, when there was small whole in it [masah shaya] We all owe Jeff a big thanks for honest and good service to the Lakewood community!!
#1, as stated in the article, it was the CW that gave him that money, not any new home developers in town, so you actually don’t have proof that any of the new housing was below standard.
jeff is a good man that was set up by a lowlife
sammygol, I guess you dont live in these parts. NJ and Lakewood municipal laws regarding renting are very different then they are in NY.
For example, the law mandates a fresh paint job between tenants prior to getting a Certificate of Occupancy…etc. There are many (often insignificant) details that an inspector who is looking to make you problems, can do. For the people who own many older houses the details can make it or break it.
I do not have anything at all to do with real estate, nor am I condoning what happened. But Jeff was in fact pretty fair and a nice guy. He inspected with sense in his brain (spirit of law) rather than often ridiculous letter of the law. Nobody I know can say that Jeff let SAFETY issues go unchecked. He was less strict with non-safety stuff.
Squealers are WEASELS!!
sammygol,
Within your question lies the answer. He generally did uphold the state and municipal laws, all I am saying is that he applied them fairly.
If for example municipal law requires the landlord to paint prior to getting a new tenant, (which it does), Jeff made you paint. BUT if you painted and it perhaps had some defects or some missed spots that didn’t pose a hazard he let it go.
In the case of these guys, he alledgedly didn’t make them paint at all, so long as there was not a lead or other safety issue. This ofcourse saves landlords money (especially with the high-turnover housing being discussed). This is the kind of misconduct we are talking about as opposed to someone who put others in danger etc.
Laminim v’lamlshinim al……
Mark Levin and MBD:
If the CW would have walked in to you with an Apple Jacks box with $93K in cash and asks YOU to “mach kusher” YOU would look at him like he was stark mad and sent him flying. That’s why YOU are not in trouble.
Only those who with their own wide-open mouths bragged about their expertise SELF-INCRIMINATED themselves on tape. They saw money and came running. The ENTIRE Jewish world heard of his bankruptcy and indictment, yet these people still chose to deal in business with him.
He didn’t entrap them either. The minute they heard he had “UNTRACEABLE” money and was a member of the Green Party, THEY chaleshed to have a connection with him. THEIR greed ensnared them.
Artchill,
How about if CW was your nephew, cousin, friend, dear friends son, or the son of someone beloved by you? Would you not bend over backwards to help him and get him some respite from the hell he was going through?
I know many of these people personally. I can tell you beyond the shadow of doubt, that although their actions were unwise, they were NOT motivated by personal greed. In fact, in some of the most severe, (no names for obvious reasons), the gain was not personal at all.
Not all, obviously, but many of the big had absolutely no business aspirations that you talk of. AND YES THEY WERE ENSNARED, talked into it by his sleezy tongue.
Your talking family and friends for years.
#17 Sammygol
One of the laws of lashon horah is not to believe what you hear (you are allowed to protect yourself in the event it is true, but even that is subject to further conditions). It seems you have gone one step further and despite him only having been “accused” of bribes, (subject to a court case which may or may not convict him) you seem to write as if he was already convicted. [What about tring to judge him favorably – but that is for a different discussion].
Sammygol Sammygol, [niggun implied]
First, your point is well taken. As I explicitly pointed out above (#10), that no of course I do not condone any of it.
Second, why does him letting someone else get away without a paint job (for example), make him unfair to me? My point is simple, he may have had personal ethics issues for accepting bribes, but in the end of the day Lakewood loses a non-antagonistic, fair, and level headed inspector. This is despite his alleged personal issue of bribery.
As far as the issue of safety is concerned, not even the prosecutors claim as much! Go ahead and peruse the criminal complaints (as I have). Jeff took pride in his safety check. In fact, even when the situation was one that technically passed inspection, if he was uncomfortable with it, he passed you but also took the time to show you his recommendations on how to adjust it to make it better.
Regarding the issue of there being a price for him to eventually cave in on safety, the answer is really two-fold. One, those items are black or white. Either you have a smoke-detector or you don’t (just an example). The issues he supposedly let go where GRAY by their very nature. Where the walls clean…? I imagine he intended to keep his job. Two, I hate to say it, but do you really think that the world is such a bastion of ethics that most of these guys do not have a price at some point? (even if they didn’t do it yet (or feign ignorance))?
Like I said, I understand your point, but please hear mine. This guy was setup by a sleeze ball who took the act MUCH further than it was prior to his arrival. Technically he allegedly violated severe laws, but on a practical level it was between him and G-d. On the other hand, what dreck did, cost multitudes of people millions of dollars of their own hard earned money.