Trenton, NJ.
A tearful Daniel Van Pelt was sentenced to more than three years in prison today for accepting a $10,000 bribe from a crooked developer who was supposedly seeking help with a project from the former state Assemblyman and local official.
U.S. District Judge Joel Pisano ordered Van Pelt to serve 41 months in a federal prison — the maximum sentence for his conviction — despite pleas from his attorney for leniency for the ill former legislator.
"He did a terrible thing to the citizens of this state and for that he is going to pay the price," Pisano said.
Van Pelt, 46, was convicted May 19 of extortion and bribery in the massive federal investigation into public corruption. He was found guilty of accepting a $10,000 bribe from disgraced developer Solomon Dwek, who was secretly working for federal authorities, in exchange for his influence for permit approvals for a fictitious development project in Ocean Township, where Van Pelt was a former mayor and sitting committeeman.
His attorney, Robert Margulies, asked Pisano for leniency because Van Pelt, who suffers from kidney disease and has already undergone one transplant, is expected to experience a health decline in the future, potentially needing another transplant.
Margulies suggested Van Pelt be allowed to be on home confinement in the event his health debilitated to the point that he would need special care.
Pisano rejected the request, saying the federal Bureau of Prisons assured him Van Pelt’s medical needs can be met at its facilities.
"We have good man that did a bad thing," Margulies told the judge. "What enhances that is that he was in a public position at the time."
Crying through most of his address to the judge, Van Pelt, who called himself "trustworthy,’’ said he had aspired to political life since he was a child and realizes he threw that away by accepting the envelope cash. He said he did not live up to the higher standards placed on public servants.
"That day, that time, that night I didn’t have a higher standard. I didn’t do what was best for my constituents," he said. "I take full responsibility. I should have gotten up and walked away. That decision has cost me my career, my reputation," he said.
But Assistant U.S. Attorney Dustin Chao said Van Pelt has not taken responsibility for his actions and said the former politician only expressed remorse at having been arrested and prosecuted.
"If Mr. Van Pelt was about honesty, integrity and trust, we wouldn’t be here today," Chao said. "We’re here today because Mr. Van Pelt is about dishonesty, arrogance and remorselessness."
Van Pelt was permitted to report to the Bureau of Prisons after the holidays.
