Former Hoboken Assemblyman Carmelo Garcia’s sentencing for three counts related to a Newark bribery scheme has been delayed nearly six months, the court docket for his federal case shows.
By John Heinis/Hudson County View
Garcia, also a former Newark deputy mayor, as well as a housing authority executive director in Hoboken and Irvington, had his sentencing set for today, but it has now been moved to October 7th at 11 a.m. before U.S. District Court Judge Madelene Cox Arleo.
The court docket for his case was updated without any further explanation.
In June, Garcia, 49, pleaded guilty before Cox Arleo to conspiracy to defraud the city of Newark and the Newark Community Economic Development Corporation of Garcia’s honest services, honest services wire fraud, and receiving bribes in connection with the business of a federally funded local government and organization, as HCV first reported.
“As he admitted in court, Carmelo Garcia set up a scheme to receive cash and jewelry in exchange for using his influence in favor of private business interests, defrauding the people of Newark of their right to his honest services,” then-U.S. Attorney Philip Sellinger said at the time.
“In doing so, he violated the public trust in order to line his own pockets.”
Garcia, who was backed by the Hudson County Democratic Organization (HCDO) before he won his one and only term in the state Assembly in 2013, received 20 continuances in the case without much explanation.
From 2017 through April 2019, both while serving as Newark deputy mayor and as an executive officer of the NCEDC (now known as Invest Newark), Garcia sought and received significant cash and other gifts from Frank Valvano Jr., Irwin Sablosky – the former board of education president in Springfield, according to federal prosecutors.
Those two and others bribed Garcia to use his official positions and influence within the city of Newark and the NCEDC to advance real estate development matters of interest to Valvano and Sablosky.
These matters included obtaining preliminary designation letters for Valvano and Sablosky and securing Newark-approved redevelopment agreements (RDAs) that allowed them to purchase and acquire various Newark-owned properties for redevelopment.
They also had an understanding that their bribes would ensure that Garcia did not use his influence and authority to act against their interests, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said in the indictment.
He was first charged via criminal complaint in November 2020.
How much longer can Mister Carmelo avoid the clink? The only person who has skated this long from the Feds is Michael Russo.
Great to see you back, TA. As you know, usually when sentencing gets repeatedly delayed, it’s because *someone* is talking to the Feds and trying to offer up other guilty parties connected to this or other alledged crimes. I have no idea who that someone might be. Absolutely none.
What’s the status for Valvano’s sentencing? It was supposed to be given on April 16, 2025, but no updates are given.