Crime & Safety

Contractor Who Rigged Bids, Inflated Contracts in Tinton Falls School District Sentenced

Engineer for school districts and two other contractors previously sentenced

 

Attorney General Jeffrey S. Chiesa announced that a contractor was sentenced today for rigging bids and inflating school contracts at the direction of an engineer who oversaw construction projects for the Westfield and Tinton Falls school districts.

John Sangiuliano, 58, of Scotch Plains, co-owner of Metropolitan Metal Window Company, was sentenced to one year of probation by Superior Court Judge Joseph P. Donohue in Union County.  He paid $36,000 in restitution to the Westfield and Tinton Falls districts and a $25,000 penalty to the state’s Anti-Trust Revolving Fund for anti-trust enforcement efforts.  Sangiuliano pleaded guilty on June 28 to an accusation charging him with third-degree making false representations for a government contract.  He and his company will be disqualified from public contracts in New Jersey for five years.  Deputy Attorney General Vincent J. Militello prosecuted the case for the Division of Criminal Justice Corruption Bureau. 

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In pleading guilty, Sangiuliano admitted that he falsified bids for contracts in the Westfield and Tinton Falls school districts at the behest of the engineer who oversaw construction projects in those districts, Kenneth Disko, and paid him approximately $36,000 in kickbacks.

Disko, 48, of Mountainside, the former contracted engineer or engineer/architect on record for the Westfield, Tinton Falls and Scotch Plains-Fanwood school districts, pleaded guilty to a second-degree charge of making false representations for a government contract.  He was sentenced on March 16 to three years in state prison.  Disko admitted that he orchestrated a series of bid-rigging and kickback schemes from 2001 to 2010 in those three districts involving Sangiuliano and two other contractors, Martin W. Starr, 45, of Cliffwood Beach, owner of Starr Contracting, and Stephen M. Gallagher, 51, of Cliffwood Beach, owner of East Commercial Construction. Starr and Gallagher were sentenced on July 20 to three years of probation.  Like Sangiuliano, they pleaded guilty to third-degree making false representations for a government contract.  They and their companies are disqualified from public contracts for five years, and each man was ordered to pay a $25,000 penalty to the Anti-Trust Revolving Fund.

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The investigation was led by Deputy Attorney General Militello, Sgt. Lisa Shea and Detective Michael Behar of the Division of Criminal Justice Corruption Bureau.

The investigation revealed that Sangiuliano, in bidding on contracts for the Westfield and Tinton Falls school districts, knowingly prepared fraudulent quotes at Disko’s direction bearing the names of other legitimate contractors, making the quotes higher than his own.  He also knowingly inflated Metropolitan’s quotes and the cost of repairs for the contracts at Disko’s direction.  In exchange for the inflated contracts, Sangiuliano allegedly gave kickbacks to Disko of at least $36,000 in 2009 and 2010.  The investigation revealed that Disko also received over $44,000 in kickbacks from a prior owner of Metropolitan who is now deceased for contracts awarded from 2001 to 2004.

In a related matter stemming from the investigation, the former business administrator for the Westfield School District, Robert A. Berman, 56, of South Plainfield, pleaded guilty to third-degree conspiracy to make false representations for a government contract.  He admitted that he accepted $13,000 in windows and doors from Sangiuliano, who he recommended be hired by the school district.  Berman was sentenced on Jan. 27, 2012, to one year of probation and was ordered to pay a $6,000 penalty. He forfeited his position with the school district and is permanently barred from public employment in New Jersey.


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