A former Newark police officer has admitted to soliciting and accepting cash payments from a brothel owner in Newark in exchange for protecting brothels from police action, and to failing to report those cash payments on his personal federal income tax returns.
Julio I. Rivera, 50, of Old Bridge, pleaded guilty on Jan. 9 before U.S. District Judge Madeline Cox Arleo in Newark federal court to two counts of an indictment charging him with bribery (Count Six) and aiding and assisting in the preparation of a false 2015 personal federal tax return (Count 13), U.S. Attorney Craig Carpenito said in a prepared statement.
According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court, from September 2014 to August 2015, Rivera solicited and accepted cash payments from a Newark brothel owner (“Individual 1”) who ran brothels located on Lafayette Street and Emmet Street. In exchange for these cash bribes, Rivera performed official acts and violated his lawful duties for the benefit of Individual 1, including declining to arrest individuals who were committing and promoting prostitution, agreeing to protect these individuals from arrest by other Newark police officers, and agreeing to take adverse action against a competing brothel. Rivera collected between $40,000 and $95,000 in bribes in exchange for protecting those and other brothels in Newark, according to the statement.
Rivera also intentionally withheld information from his tax preparer regarding the cash bribes that he received, which caused Rivera’s filed federal tax returns for certain tax years, including 2015, to understate the total amount of income that Rivera received. Rivera stipulated that this misconduct resulted in a loss to the IRS of $15,000 to $40,000, according to the statement.
The maximum potential penalty for the count of bribery is 10 years in prison and the maximum potential penalty for the tax fraud is three years in prison; both counts carry a maximum potential fine of up to $250,000 or twice the gross gain or loss from the offense, according to the statement.
Sentencing is scheduled for April 30.
