Local officials respond to truck dealers' indictments
Mayor: Brick will no longer do biz with International Trucks
BY COLLEEN LUTOLF
Staff Writer

COLLEEN LUTOLF Federal authorities say co-owners of International Trucks of Central Jersey, Stephen and Matthew Appolonia, and one of their salesmen, Robert Feldman, a Brick resident, laundered bribe money through the business and tacked on the expense to municipalities when purchasing their vehicles.

BRICK - Trips to boat races, bribes stuffed in cigarette packs and cigar tubes, and a padded award package that ripped off township taxpayers.

These are some of the details provided by the U.S. Attorney's Office surrounding the alleged courting of Brick's former public works director by International Trucks of Central Jersey (ITCJ) co-owners Stephen and Matthew Appolonia, and their municipal salesman, Robert Feldman, in a 28-page indictment handed down by a grand jury Friday.

Official 1 is referred to in the indictment only as Brick's public works director. Although John H. Nydam is not named in the indictment, he headed the department during the time frame in which authorities say Brick's public works director took cash payments and trips to boat races in exchange for pushing work the Appolonias' way.

"As far as Mr. Nydam goes, it's obvious it's him," said Mayor Joseph C. Scarpelli on Friday.

Hours after the indictment was handed down, Scarpelli said he directed Township Attorney Charles Starkey to "find ways to deny [International] the right to bid or if they are the low bidder, how to disqualify them if they win the bid."

"Based on consulting with our attorney, state statue requires a bid must be awarded to lowest responsible bidder," the mayor said Tuesday. "We don't feel this company is responsible based on the alleged criminal activity now involved a township employee."

Scarpelli never advised township attorneys to find ways to block International Trucks from bidding on township contracts after Stephen Appolonia was arrested for allegedly laundering $350,000 through his business last year because "it didn't involve Brick," he said. "As I understand it, you're innocent until proven guilty. But now I think it's obvious Brick is involved and the public works director is involved. We're going to go safe."

The 28-page indictment alleges Brick's department of public works director, between 1998 and 2004 accepted a total of $3,000 in corrupt payments on two occasions from Stephen Appolonia, that were either concealed in a cigar tube or cigarette box; and enjoyed trips to watch boat races in Canada, Ocean County, and other locales that included "entertainment."

Federal authorities allege the Appolonia Brothers and Feldman recouped costs for those trips by inflating the price of two of the four vehicles sold to Brick Township by at least $2,200 sometime between May 2002 and September 2003.

"There is a tax residents have to pay when there's political corruption," said Stephen C. Acropolis. "Whether it's International Trucks and Jack Nydam taking trips for free, or public works employees doing work at your house, my only hope is eventually, when the investigation is over, whoever did anything wrong - if it's one person or three people - those people are brought to justice."

Rich MacDonald, who's been Brick's

purchasing agent for almost three decades, described Feldman, who is a Brick resident, as a businessman who's always seemed above board.

"He would come in just to pick up a bid package," MacDonald said. "We had very limited contact with him."

Former Township Business Administrator Scott MacFadden called Feldman a "personable guy."

"I met him a few times in town hall," he said. "He's a marketing guy. He came by."

MacDonald said if there was a breach in the bidding process, it didn't occur in his office.

"If it was breached, it happened before or after it came here," he said.

The public works director is given the authority and responsibility to choose what make or manufacturer of vehicle is needed for an intended use, MacDonald said.

"The DPW director sends over a wish list and approximate cost to each vehicle," he said. "Once we get bids, we check for administrative compliance, make sure everything was properly submitted. We send it back to DPW to do a technical review and to make an award."

A small fluctuation in price for a vehicle wouldn't raise any red flags, MacDonald said.

"When we get a request, we have an approximate idea of what a vehicle's going to cost," he said. "If it's $50,000 and it came in at $100,000, we'll reject it. It's well over the estimate. But if you say $100,000 and it came in at $102,000, it might just be a difference in price between the time we funded it and when we went out to bid."

It is Brick's policy to never give a list of current bidders out to prospective bidders. The township never gives out estimates of potential purchases either, MacDonald said.

"It's not a complicated process, it's a thorough process," MacDonald said. "[The contract] is awarded by a council resolution. They talk about it at the caucus meeting. There's no authority for me to make an award. Things are done with a check and balance system and that's what I like about them."

Brick's public works director requested five vehicles to be purchased from International Trucks sometime between 1997 and 1998, the indictment states.

Sometime during mid-1998, federal authorities say Nydam was compensated $2,500 as a reward for securing International Trucks the award for those vehicles. The cash was passed on to him in a cigar tube in a Bradley Beach restaurant, authorities said.

Four years later in a Howell restaurant, Stephen Appolonia again rewarded Nydam when he passed him $500 in cash concealed in a cigarette pack, authorities said. The payment was to insure Nydam would continue to secure International Trucks contracts with the township, authorities stated.

Between June 2002 and August 2004, Stephen Appolonia and Feldman provided Nydam with the trips to the races, according to the indictment.

Feldman instructed Nydam to keep any information about the free entertainment he was receiving to himself, according to the indictment.

Scarpelli has attended boat races with Nydam in the past, he said, but the mayor paid his own way.

"We got there together, we didn't go together," he said.

The mayor said he didn't know Nydam may have been taking improprieties with his position at the race, which he said was either in Florida or New Orleans.

"Not at all," he said. "I had no idea what he was doing in his private life."

Nydam pleaded guilty to official misconduct, theft and witness tampering in Ocean County state Superior Court in April as a result of an Ocean County Prosecutors investigation.

Nydam is scheduled for sentencing Sept. 15. He was not reappointed to his position as public works director after his term ended in December 2005. He had been employed by Brick Township for 13 years.

Former Business Administrator Scott MacFadden, who left Brick in July to become president of Birdsall Engineering, the township's contracted engineering firm, was Nydam's former boss.

Is check and balance system in place in Brick effective enough?

"I think systems established and the local public contracts law should address those issues but there's nothing you can do to stop people from behaving badly," he said Monday. "There was no way to engage in preventative measures unless you follow people around all the time which you can't do. There couldn't be closer supervision, not unless you went to diner with him and knew what was in the tube."

MacFadden said he knew Nydam was interested in boat races but that he hasn't been to any with him in the past 10 years.

"At least 10 years," he said.