HUDSON COUNTY INSPECTOR WHO INITIATED AND ACCEPTED BRIBE AT CONSTRUCTION SITE PLEADS GUILTY TO OFFICIAL MISCONDUCT
Hudson County Prosecutor Esther Suarez has released the following information:
On Thursday, October 29, 2020, Barry Smith, of Bayonne, a former Hudson County Roads Inspector, pleaded guilty in relation to charges that he initiated and accepted cash bribes.
During the virtual plea hearing, Smith, age 52, pleaded guilty to the one count of third-degree Official Misconduct in violation of N.J.S.A. 2C:30-2A. The State is recommending a sentence of three years in New Jersey State Prison, with two years of parole ineligibility, as well as Smith’s forfeiture of current and future public employment.
On May 21, 2020, the Hudson County Prosecutor’s Office Public Integrity Unit, Special Investigations Section in conjunction with the Special Investigations Unit of the Bayonne Police Department, arrested and charged Hudson County roads inspector Barry Smith with bribery, theft by extortion and official misconduct charges following an investigation.
Smith was arrested after he asked for and accepted a cash payment to delete any violations he may have issued regarding a construction project in the area of Kennedy Boulevard and 15th Street in Bayonne.
Smith had been charged with Bribery in violation of N.J.S.A. 2C:27-2D, a crime of the second-degree; Theft By Extortion in violation of N.J.S.A. 2C:20-5D, a crime of the second-degree; and two counts of Official Misconduct in violation of N.J.S.A. 2C:30-2A – one being a crime of the second-degree and one of the third-degree. The charges against Smith also allege he previously accepted a similar cash payment in December of 2019.
Prosecutor Suarez credited the Hudson County Prosecutor’s Office HCPO Public Integrity Unit, Special Investigations Section and the Special Investigations Unit of the Bayonne Police Department with the investigation and arrest.
Sentencing in this case has been scheduled for January 21, 2021 before the Honorable Vincent Militello, J.S.C., who accepted the guilty plea.
The State is represented in this case by Assistant Prosecutor Karyn Darish of the Hudson County Prosecutor’s Office.