NEWARK, NJ — According to published reports, Dianthe Martinez-Brooks, 42, of West Orange, the former aide to former Irvington Mayor Wayne Smith, pleaded guilty to one count of federal wire fraud on Monday, Jan. 29, before Judge Jose L. Linares in Newark.
Martinez-Brooks, a Newark area political consultant also known as Dawn Martinez, admitted to submitting false and inflated invoices to the Newark Watershed Conservation and Development Corporation for her consulting company, DMart127 LLC. She faces a maximum of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine when she is sentenced Monday, May 21.
According to Paulette Pitt, Martinez-Brooks’ attorney, the details surrounding her client’s guilty plea for “an incident in an otherwise exemplary life,” will be revealed at her sentencing, presumably as part of a plea deal with federal prosecutors.
Irvington Municipal Council President David Lyons said he doesn’t have to wait until Monday, May 21, to hear the exact details of Martinez-Brooks’ wrongdoing during her years in Smith’s administration.
“I don’t know if you remember, but for years, I talked about Dawn Martinez and all the money she was paid by Wayne Smith,” said Lyons on Wednesday, Jan. 31. “Well, she recently pleaded guilty to fraud for taking money from the Newark Watershed. Justice!”
Smith did not respond to requests for comment about Martinez-Brooks’ guilty plea by press time this week. But former Orange Mayor Eldridge Hawkins Jr. did comment on Martinez-Brooks, who worked on his unsuccessful 2012 campaign for re-election against current Orange Mayor Dwayne Warren.
“It was disheartening to learn of this troubling news,” said Hawkins on Tuesday, Feb. 6. “It is a reminder that government must be vigilant, to ensure proper expenditure of taxpayer dollars. All we can hope for now is that the legal process is fair and just, moving forward.”
Former Irvington police Chief Michael Chase weighed in on wire fraud Monday, Jan. 29, saying, “The internet and all the online applications and filings that people do every day has really opened the door and expanded the realm and opportunity for people to be charged with committing wire fraud.
“Anytime you fill out an application online or sign something with an electronic signature that is recorded, registered and then transmitted electronically over the web, then it has the potential to be considered as wire fraud, if it turns out that you knowingly submitted wrong, misleading or inaccurate information, in an attempt to materially profit from it. So you better make sure that any information you send or transactions you make over the internet are legal or else you will have to face the consequences. Uncle Sam ain’t playing anymore.”
According to public records, the Newark Watershed Corp. and Development Co. serviced half a million northern New Jersey residents in its heyday, before it was dissolved in 2013, after widespread charges of corruption and mismanagement uncovered in multiple investigations of the agency, including area newspapers.
The Newark Watershed Corp. subsequently filed for bankruptcy. In 2014, the state Comptroller’s Office found the agency was siphoning millions of public dollars and making illegal payments and illicit deals.
In 2015, former Newark Watershed Corp. and Development Co. Executive Director Linda Watkins Brashear, of West Orange, pleaded guilty to conspiracy and filing a false income tax form in connection with soliciting bribes in exchange for no-work or inflated contracts. On Friday, Sept. 22, 2017, she was sentenced to eight years in federal prison.
Other managers, contractors and businessmen have also been ensnared in the federal investigation. Former Newark Watershed Corp. and Development Co. special projects manager Donald Bernard Sr. was sentenced to eight years in federal prison for working with Brashear from 2008 to 2013 to solicit bribes.
According to U.S. Attorney Craig Carpenito, Martinez-Brooks conspired with Brashear and Bernard between May 2011 and March 2013 to defraud the Newark Watershed Corp. and Development Co. He said Martinez-Brooks helped secure $225,666 in contracts for herself, a relative’s company and West Orange businessman Kevin Gleaton, for work that, in most cases, was never performed.
Carpenito said those payments were kicked back to Brashear and Bernard. Gleaton previously admitted to paying kickbacks to officials in exchange for no-work contracts. Last year, a federal judge dismissed a lawsuit by Newark Watershed Corp. and Development Co. trustees against U.S. Sen. Cory Booker, who they accused of failing to properly oversee the agency while he served on its board.
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