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Wildwood Officials Arraigned on Illegal Health Benefits Charges

Former Wildwood Mayor Ernie Troiano Jr. (right) is hoping to go to trial in 30-60 days on charges he illegally accepted health benefits while serving as an elected official
Shay Roddy

Former Wildwood Mayor Ernie Troiano Jr. (right) is hoping to go to trial in 30-60 days on charges he illegally accepted health benefits while serving as an elected official, his attorney, Brian Pelloni (left) told Judge Bernard E. DeLury Jr. at his arraignment March 17. 

By Shay Roddy

COURT HOUSE – Three Wildwood elected officials were arraigned March 17 on charges they illegally accepted health benefits in their role as public servants.  
Wildwood Mayor Pete Byron, Commissioner Steve Mikulski and former Mayor Ernie Troiano Jr. each entered a not guilty plea, after waiving a formal reading of the indictment, which was returned March 10 by a state grand jury. 
The Herald was the only media outlet in the courtroom for the proceedings, which was also attended by a few concerned residents of the city. 
All three were indicted for the same four alleged crimes: Second-degree official misconduct, second-degree theft by unlawful taking, third-degree tampering with public records, and fourth-degree falsifying or tampering with records. 
Prosecutors alleged the three elected officials were not entitled to benefits during their tenure as public servants because they were not full-time employees. The state also alleged that while serving as elected officials, they falsified timecards to make it appear as though they worked full days, Monday through Friday.
Troiano allegedly received the benefits from July 2011 through December 2019, billing a total of $286,500 to the city and State Health Benefits Program (SHBP), court records indicate. Byron was allegedly covered for $608,900 in premiums and claims from July 2011 through October 2021, according to records.
Although Mikulski did not join the city government until 2020, over $103,000 in premiums and claims were allegedly paid on his behalf, between January 2020 and October 2021, according to court documents.
Since 2010, New Jersey law has required elected officials to be full-time employees “whose hours of work are fixed at 35 or more per week” in their elected positions to be eligible to participate in the SHBP and receive employer-provided health care. 
The state put plea offers for the three men on the record at the arraignment proceeding March 17. All three would be looking at a three-year recommended sentence, to be served in state prison. 
Mikuslki had turned down a prior offer of probation, but it’s unclear if that offer was ever extended to Byron or Troiano. 
The St. Patrick’s Day proceedings, in Presiding Judge Bernard E. DeLury Jr.’s courtroom in Cape May County Superior Court, lasted less than 15 minutes, with each defendant being called before the court one at a time.  

Stave v. Troiano

Troiano’s lawyer, Brian Pelloni, told the judge that his client is not taking a deal and wants to go to trial as soon as possible.  
“The only thing we’d ask is that we’d be given an expedited trial date,” Pelloni said in court. “We are prepared to go to trial within 30- to 60-days, if the court’s available.”
Pelloni told the judge if any other defendant asks for more time, beyond the speedy trial timeframe Troiano is seeking, he may file a motion to sever Troiano’s case, asking DeLury to allow Troiano, as a solo defendant, to proceed to trial sooner than Mikulski and Byron may be ready.
“It’s three very distinct cases,” Pelloni told the judge.
“Was a conspiracy count returned?” DeLury asked.
“No, Your Honor, but the witnesses, the proofs, the abundance of evidence; it would all be the same,” Brian Uzdavinis, one of the deputy attorney generals assigned to the case, argued.
Pelloni told the judge he does not expect to file any other pre-trial motions. He said he is still waiting for the grand jury transcripts, but otherwise, discovery is mostly complete. 
The state had offered Troiano a deal that included pleading guilty to a second-degree theft by unlawful taking, cooperating with the state in its ongoing prosecution, signing a consent order agreeing to a lifetime ban on holding public office, full restitution, and a three-year state prison term. He rejected the offer. 
The judge listed Troiano for a status conference April 21. 
Troiano referred questions from the Herald to his lawyer. Pelloni said after court it is his firm’s policy not to comment to the media during an ongoing case. 

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