Nydam still feeding feds info one year after plea New sentence date scheduled for later this month BY PATRICIA A. MILLER Staff Writer BRICK TOWNSHIP - Former Public Works Director John "Jack" Nydam's sentencing date has come and gone several times over the past year. Nydam's latest date before Superior Court Judge James A. Citta is slated for 9 a.m. on April 27, said Assistant County Prosecutor William Porter. It's the fourth time a sentence date has been set for Nydam, who pleaded guilty to official misconduct, theft and witness tampering on April 3, 2006. "It's been postponed at the joint request of the parties," Porter said. "So Mr. Nydam can continue to work with law enforcement authorities. Nydam pleaded guilty on April 3, 2006, to official misconduct, theft and witness tampering - three of the 11 charges he originally faced. Each charge carries a potential five-year term. Part of Nydam's plea deal called for his continuing cooperation with FBI and U.S. Attorney's Office investigations. Federal authorities have characterized Nydam's cooperation as "substantial," Porter has said. Council President Stephen C. Acropolis isn't surprised at the number of postponements. "The only thing I can say on the record is there is still an active, ongoing investigation into Brick Township," he said. "Obviously, it's a distraction. But we have so much work to do." Nydam was placed on administrative leave without pay in August 2004, after it was discovered that township workers put up a fence between a township park and his Eastern Lane home. An Ocean County grand jury later indicted him for official misconduct, four counts of compensation for past official behavior and witness tampering. The indictment states that Nydam accepted $2,700 from Samuel A. Davis, of Monmouth Ocean Contracting and Hardrock Industries, in exchange for township work. The witness tampering charge stemmed from Nydam's attempt to persuade Davis to provide false testimony or withhold testimony from the grand jury about the payments. Nydam was indicted a second time in April 2005 on three counts of official misconduct and one count of theft. Robert J. DeForest, owner of DeForest Excavating and Demolition, Point Pleasant Beach, was originally charged with theft and official misconduct as an accessory for accepting township equipment from Nydam between April 1, 2001, and Aug. 30, 2001. The equipment included a bulldozer, a woodchipper, two trash bins, police cars, sanitation truck bodies and school buses. DeForest pleaded guilty in April 2005 to criminal trespass, a disorderly persons offense, Porter has said. Nydam's new sentencing date is little more than a month before former Mayor Joseph C. Scarpelli's turn in court. Scarpelli is slated to be sentenced on May 29 in federal court in Newark. Scarpelli said before Nydam pleaded guilty that it would be a "sad day" if the charges were true. "There is no place in government for this type of conduct and no one one can condone such a violation of the public trust," he said in January 2005. The former long-time mayor pleaded guilty on Jan. 8 to accepting bribes from an unnamed developer. Scarpelli said at the time of the Nydam investigations he didn't think any other Brick officials would be charged in the investigation. Scarpelli could face up to a statutory maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a fine of $250,000. The former mayor will more likely face a probable sentence of between 24 and 30 months in federal prison, authorities have said.