crime

John Filippine, 58, a longtime toll collector on the New Jersey Turnpike is pleading guilty to multiple counts of stealing toll money as part of a plea bargain. The bargain is that prosecutors will recommend Filippine for a year's jail, payment of $2,282 in restitution and a lifetime bar against employment by a state agency.

Thursday Filippine pled 'guilty' to third degree 'theft by unlawful taking' before a state judge in court in Mt Holly NJ.

Glenn Huryan, 55 and William Fagan, 62 dismissed toll collectors on the New Jersey Turnpike have pled guilty to "theft by unlawful taking" in Camden in south Jersey. A third fired collector John Fillipine, 58 has charges pending.

It isn't just Penn Pike bigshots who have trouble with the booze. Massachusetts Turnpike's colorful former chairman and CEO Matt Amorello was booked by police for drunk driving, and leaving the scene of a crash, in the early hours of Saturday morning. He was held in the local lockup overnight.

The incident occurred on River Road, a major surface arterial in Haverhill, a northern suburb of Boston.

The Feds have released details of their corruption case against former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich. Called "Government's evidentiary proffer" the 91-page document filed in US District Court in Chicago by US Attorney Patrick J Fitzgerald today shows that the Governor tried to use the Illinois Tollway to extort money from Tollway contractors.

Fired Pennsylvania Turnpike chairman Mitchell Rubin has agreed to repay the state senate $150k he received in no-work contracts and to serve six months house arrest and 4.5 years probation. He pled guilty to an obstruction of justice charge.

In US court documents filed today prosecutors say during months of talks he made differing and contradictory claims about his role for five years getting $30k/year on the payroll by his patron then-senator Vincent Fumo.

For sheer chutzpah and audacity at tapping the public till a prize goes not to a Pennsylvanian but to New Jerseyite - to "legal counsel" for the South Jersey (toll) Transportation Authority (SJTA), Michael A Angelini. The guy though clearly an outside consultant managed to persuade someone at SJTA years ago that he should be paid as if he were an employee and enrolled in the state pension system called PERS (Public Employees Retirement System).

The US Attorney's office in Philadelphia this morning formally charged Mitchell Rubin with a single obstruction of justice count in line with reports that he has been cooperating with the Feds to help them dig deeper into corruption at the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission.

US congressman Glenn `GT’ Thompson, (Republican, Howard, 5th District PA) is asking Pennsylvania Attorney General Tom Corbett to investigate claims in former financial manager Ralph Bailets’ lawsuit against the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission (PTC).

S Michael Palermo a former associate executive director at the Pennsylvania Turnpike and longtime flunkey to jailed state senator Vincent Fumo apologized in US District Court today, and said he had been wrong to sign on for no-work contracts with agencies of the state of Pennsylvania.

Donations to politicians continue to create trouble for PBS&J, the big employee owned engineering firm headquartered in Tampa FL. There's news today that the company's chief financial officer says in a  Securities and Exchange Commission filing that they cannot file their annual report because of an ongoing internal investigation into possible illegal behavior by staff.