Acting Attorney General John J. Hoffman announced that a former Atlantic City inspector was sentenced to state prison today for accepting cash bribes from a taxi operator and operators of massage parlors and “stress therapy centers.”
Logan F. Holt Jr., 55, of Galloway Township, was sentenced to five years in state prison, including two years of parole ineligibility, by Superior Court Judge Mark H. Sandson in Atlantic County. Holt pleaded guilty on Aug. 7 to a second-degree charge of official misconduct. He is permanently barred from public employment in New Jersey.
Holt was an inspector with the Atlantic City Department of Licenses and Inspections, Mercantile Department, from 2002 until February 2012. In pleading guilty, Holt admitted that on April 1, 2010, he accepted an $800 cash bribe from a taxi operator, and in return, appeared in municipal court that same day to request that the court dismiss two tickets that had been issued to the taxi operator by another inspector for violations involving the condition of his vehicle.
The count of the indictment to which Holt pleaded guilty also charges that on May 11, 2010, he accepted a $250 payment from the same taxi operator for allowing his cab to pass its annual city vehicle inspection.
Acting Attorney General Hoffman and Director Honig noted that the Division of Criminal Justice has established a toll-free Corruption Tipline 1-866-TIPS-4CJ for the public to confidentially report corruption, financial crime and other illegal activities. The public also can log on to the Division’s web page at www.njdcj.org to report suspected wrongdoing confidentially.
The investigation began with a referral from the Atlantic City Department of Licenses and Inspections, which allegedly received a complaint that Holt had been soliciting bribes.