The owner of an Edison-based construction company has been charged with bribing the supervisor of sewer operations in the Sewer Operating Division in Princeton’s Department of Infrastructure and Operations, according to Mercer County Prosecutor Angelo Onofri.
Pantelis Kounelias, 64, the owner of V & K Construction, was charged with second-degree bribery Sept. 6, the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office said. He is scheduled to appear in Mercer County Superior Court on Sept. 24.
Kounelias allegedly bribed Thomas Hughes, the town’s former supervisor of sewer operations, so his company could dump excavated soil from a water park project at the Princeton Sewer Operating Committee’s River Road site, the Prosecutor’s Office said.
Kounelias allegedly paid Hughes $3,000 in bribes during July and August 2018 to dump the soil, according to the complaint filed against the construction company owner.
Hughes was also charged with one count of second-degree bribery in June, but Kounelias’ arrest was not released at the time Hughes’ complaint was filed because of the on-going investigation. Hughes is slated to appear in Mercer County Superior Court on Oct. 16.
Hughes was subsequently fired in connection with allegations of illegal dumping at the River Road site. Bob Hough, the former director of Infrastructure and Operations, also was fired. Administrative action was taken against a third, unnamed employee.
The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection notified Princeton officials in June that the town had been illegally operating a dump at the River Road site, following an earlier inspection in February, according to Planet Princeton.
Princeton officials conducted an initial investigation into the matter and decided to refer it to the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office, according to Planet Princeton. There were allegations of dumping and improper use of town equipment and staff.
The investigation is ongoing, and anyone with information about it is asked to call the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office’s Economic Crime Unit at 609-989-6365.
