Former Clark Mayor Sal Bonaccorso was sentenced Friday to probation on public corruption charges, capping a five-year saga that roiled his township and brought down a powerful and popular local figure.
“The lines became blurred for Mr. Bonaccorso,” said Superior Court Judge Lisa Miralles Walsh, noting he admitted conducting business from town hall, despite the trust placed in him.
“Everything became blurred, and that’s a problem,” Walsh said. “I think that’s something Mr. Bonaccorso needs to understand.”
In January, Bonaccorso pleaded guilty to abusing his office, acknowledging he used township resources to benefit his private landscaping business and forged signatures on applications for permits for work his company performed.
Bonaccorso, a Republican, had been the face of Clark for a quarter century, the longest-serving mayor in the GOP stronghold’s history. Just three months ago, township voters rewarded him with a seventh term, despite the criminal charges and a racism scandal in which he was caught using the n-word and crassly disparaging women in law enforcement.
Bonaccorso declined to speak in court, other than to say he stood by his plea agreement. His defense attorney, Robert Stahl, called his client’s offenses minor and said he has paid a deep price for them.
“No one wants to be before a criminal judge,” Stahl said, “especially someone who has a life of public service.”
Bonaccorso’s guilty plea to conspiracy to commit official misconduct and forgery spared him prison time, but forced him to resign. He will serve three years of probation, pay a fine of $15,000 and is barred for life from holding public office or employment.
The sentencing marked a coda to a long-stalled and far-reaching investigation that began in 2020 after prosecutors learned the township had paid a $400,000 hush-money settlement to a whistleblower who secretly recorded Bonaccorso and police brass using racial slurs.
That larger probe did not result in criminal charges connected to the payout. But in November 2023, the Attorney General’s Office filed the unrelated corruption case against Bonaccorso, which was uncovered during the investigation.
Prosecutors labeled Bonaccorso’s crimes “brazen” in a sentencing memorandum, saying he violated his responsibility to a community he was elected to serve.
“I’m in no way suggesting this is equivalent to a bribery case or a massive kickback scheme,” Assistant Attorney General Jeffrey Manis said in court. “But it is significant.”
The charges alleged Bonaccorso stored records for his company at his mayoral office and used government resources — including computers, fax machines and even township employees — “solely for the purpose of running his private business.”
Authorities also said Bonaccorso improperly removed hundreds of underground oil tanks across nearly two dozen communities, though he and his company lacked licenses to perform the environmentally sensitive work. To get around that, prosecutors said, Bonaccorso forged an engineer’s signature on removal applications and falsely represented that person would be present.
Bonaccorso’s attorneys cast their client as a dedicated and hard-working public servant who made a mistake. They characterized the charges as “de minimus” and “two minor matters,” while noting they followed years of scrutiny by authorities into Clark.
The defense submitted glowing letters on Bonaccorso’s behalf from his wife and three children, longtime township residents and employees and the superintendent of Clark Public Schools. A former governor, Donald DiFrancesco, also voiced support, calling Bonaccorso a friend of 25 years and a good man.
“He loves his community and has served Clark admirably and with great competence,” wrote DiFrancesco, a Republican. “He has been a passionate advocate for his hometown for his entire political career.”
The township services Bonaccorso illegally utilized amounted to less than $200, according to the defense, which said staff would occasionally fax or email documents on behalf of his company. While Bonaccorso also forged the name of an engineer on applications for oil tank removals, he did so under a business agreement with that engineer, who was paid nonetheless, the defense said.
Stahl said Bonaccorso “hopes that this moment of time does not define his otherwise sterling legacy to the residents of Clark.”
Prosecutors countered by accusing Bonaccorso of minimizing his wrongdoing.
“At issue is not the amount of time spent sending faxes and emails, but rather his brazen use of his office for personal gain and to promote a business that itself defrauded dozens of municipalities throughout Union County,” prosecutors wrote in their sentencing memo.
They insisted the offenses were no momentary lapse of judgment, but occurred repeatedly over the course of several years.
As part of the plea agreement, Bonaccorso and his company, Bonaccorso & Son, are barred from holding public contracts for five years. They are also prohibited from working in the storage tank removal business for three years.
Bonaccorso has faced a torrent of criticism since 2022, when NJ Advance Media revealed the whistleblower’s settlement and published portions of the racist recordings. They captured Bonaccorso, police Chief Pedro Matos and internal affairs Sgt. Joseph Teston crudely denigrating Black people. Bonaccorso also called female police officers “f—— disasters.”
Even with Bonaccorso’s conviction, aftershocks from the racism scandal continue.
The whistleblower, former police Lt. Antonio Manata, is suing the township, charging officials retaliated against him after he came forward, forcing him to sell his house and move out of town.
Matos and Teston have also sued Clark, trying to block the township from firing them.
They and a third Clark officer have been on paid leave since prosecutors seized control of the police department in July 2020. That has cost local taxpayers more than $2 million in salary alone as of late-September, a figure that continues to climb.
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Riley Yates may be reached at ryates@njadvancemedia.com.