DeMarzo Pleads Not Guilty, Goes Back to Work; Says Business as Usual

COURT HOUSE – It was back to business Wednesday (April 20) afternoon for Gary DeMarzo. Two hours after pleading not guilty to charges of official misconduct and conspiracy, the mayor of Wildwood led a special commissioners’ meeting at City Hall.
“All in a day in the life of Gary DeMarzo,” he told a Herald reporter in attendance.
An upbeat DeMarzo was seemingly undaunted by events earlier in the day. He had appeared at the county courthouse with Attorney Louis Barbone and entered a plea of not guilty to charges he allegedly used municipal money to fund a personal lawsuit with the city.
DeMarzo has adamantly denied doing that.
The attorney he used at the time, Samuel Lashman, was also indicted with the mayor in early March. Lashman works for the City of Wildwood as an assistant solicitor and also attended Wednesday’s special meeting. The agenda item, authorizing a license for a game on the Boardwalk, was not related to the men’s criminal cases.
Lashman pleaded not guilty to charges April 20 as well.
DeMarzo spoke candidly and without legal counsel about his first courtroom appearance following the six-count indictment against him.
“There will be no deal or concessions,” he said maintaining his innocence.
On pleading not guilty, he said, it “speaks volumes.”
According to the indictment, DeMarzo is charged with second-degree official misconduct and conspiracy to commit official misconduct and four additional fourth-degree offenses involving the misuse of funds and corruption of public resources. Lashman is charged with second-degree official misconduct and conspiracy to commit official misconduct.
DeMarzo allegedly paid Lashman with city funds to represent him in a lawsuit questioning his ability to serve the city as both an elected official and a police officer, the indictment says. DeMarzo was a city commissioner at the time and a patrolman with the Wildwood Police Department. He has since retired from the force.
A specific amount of money exchanged between the two men has not been disclosed, but the indictment places it as greater than $200 and less than $75,000. City Solicitor Dan Gallagher said at a public meeting April 13 the amount is “a lot closer to $200 than $75,000.”
DeMarzo contends his using Lashman as an attorney and city funds to pay him are “old news.” The case dates back to 2007. He said the matter was scrutinized and approved by legal experts and there are legal documents to prove it.
“When you look at the facts surrounding this case, the court of public opinion is going to see right through this,” he said.
He called the lawsuit “work related, not personal,” and said the real issue is between the Mayor’s Office and that of the County Prosecutor.
“It’s retaliation,” DeMarzo told the Herald, adding that while the county prosecutor had the power to indict, “we the people have the power to hold him accountable” for it.
The city, earlier this year, sued the Prosecutor’s Office in an attempt to regain an alleged police beating tape involving a Wildwood police officer, but county Prosecutor Robert Taylor disqualified the attorneys in the case and said DeMarzo was really trying to use them to get the tape for himself. DeMarzo has a work-discrimination suit pending with the police department from when he was a member and can opt to pursue that lawsuit at a time when he is no longer the mayor. One of the defendants named in DeMarzo’s civil suit is the officer on the tape.
DeMarzo said the city is still pursing the videotape, this time with different attorneys.
Taylor, who also spoke with the Herald following the arraignments of DeMarzo and Lashman, responded to the mayor’s allegations of retaliation.
“The New Jersey Attorney General’s Office, the Division of Criminal Justice, reviewed and approved those charges and the evidence supporting them before the case was presented to the grand jury,” Taylor said. “The mayor’s claims of retaliation are not true.”
Likewise, he said he found DeMarzo’s claim that the indictment stemmed from an issue between the Mayor’s Office and his own to be unfounded.
“I guess Mr. DeMarzo will now try to claim the New Jersey Attorney General’s Office is retaliating against him,” Taylor said.