Kaye: ‘Sooner or later’ arrests will be coming
Prosecutor: Howell hearings will not affect investigation
BY KATHY BARATTA
Staff Writer

An investigation by the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office of possible bribery and corruption related to a Howell zoning decision and a residential development approval is set to conclude soon.

Arrests are to follow, according to Prosecutor John Kaye.

Declining to name any particular person or persons, Kaye told the Tri-Town News this week that “there are going to be arrests” resulting from his office’s investigation that started with the confiscation of records related to the Colts Neck Crossing development application.

Representatives of Kaye’s office seized the records from Howell’s land use office in July and told municipal officials they were doing so as part of an investigation into Crawford Holdings LLC, the company behind Colts Neck Crossing, an adult community planned for Route 33 on property now occupied by the Flame motel.

Two of the principals of Crawford Holdings are developers Terry Sherman and Anthony Spalliero.

Kaye said his investigation was delayed by personnel problems, but said, “We have spent a lot of time on this with a lot of paper. There are going to be arrests sooner or later.”

Colts Neck Crossing is a 497-unit, age-restricted community that received approval following the adoption

of a Planned Retirement

Community (PRC) zone, which was created in April 2002.

Colts Neck Crossing received its preliminary site plan approval in October 2002. The development is scheduled for final Planning Board approval April 26.

Mayor Joseph M. DiBella has initiated municipal hearings into the circumstances surrounding the creation of the PRC on Route 33 and the Planning Board approval for Colts Neck Crossing.

At the first hearing, held March 28, DiBella read aloud from a “black book” which purportedly documents donations from Sherman and Spalliero to the Monmouth County Democratic Party; money that was said to have been funneled to Howell Democrats during 2001 and 2002.

According to DiBella, the Township Council wants to question former council members and other individuals about information they may have regarding the campaign donations in an effort to establish if a conflict of interest existed at the time of the rezoning vote by the mayor and council, and the approval for the development given by the Planning Board.

A second hearing into the matter is scheduled for April 12. Subpoenas have been issued by the council to former mayor Timothy J. Konopka, former council members Fritz Kirchhof, Kimberly Alvarez and George Pettignano, former township attorney Richard Schibell, former Planning Board member Ilse Whisner, current Planning Board member Pauline Smith, and to Sherman and Spalliero.

Kaye said his investigation is not connected to or affected by the hearings being conducted by Howell’s governing body. He said a representative of his office attended the March 28 hearing to observe the proceedings. He said the hearings being conducted by the council will not jeopardize his investigation of the Colts Neck Crossing issue.

Kaye said DiBella called to ask if the prosecutor had a problem with Howell holding hearings of its own.

Noting that his office investigates situations in order to prove criminality and that Howell officials have said their intent is to determine if conflicts of interest existed, Kaye said, “They are doing what they have to do and it’s not going to impede us.”

According to DiBella, the “black book” binder of information was at the heart of Kaye’s investigation into the Colts Neck Crossing application.

When asked about the so-called black book, Kaye acknowledged receiving such a book, but said, “I’m not going to say if that’s the basis for our investigation.”