Jersey City cop admits taking $230,000 in illegal off-duty pay

NEWARK — Federal Prosecutors in Newark say a former police officer admitted cheating the Jersey City Police Department and the IRS, by accepting $230,000 in direct payments for off-duty work at construction sites and failing to report the payments to the city or on his tax returns.

The U.S. Attorney for New Jersey, Paul Fishman, announced Wednesday that Juan Romaniello, 54, of East Hanover, pleaded guilty to fraud and conspiracy charges Wednesday, after Romaniello effectively cut out the JCPD as a middleman when he took work and accepted payments directly from construction companies.

The direct payments were in violation of a city ordinance requiring such work to be arranged through the department. Fishman said the ordinance also requires that payments be made by companies to the city, which then pays the officer after deducting taxes and an administrative fee kept by the city.

For his last decade in uniform, Rominiello coordinated the off-duty work program for the department's North District, Fishman said, adding that in some case Romaniello would allow companies to operate at work sites without a mandatory police presence required for traffic or safety reasons.

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