The Third Circuit Court of Appeals today affirmed by nonprecedential opinion the convictions and sentence of a former Newark police officer who paid kickbacks to the executive director of the Newark Watershed Conservation Development Corporation (NWCDC), U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger announced.
According to U.S. Attorney Sellinger, Janell Robinson, 46, of Newark, was sentenced on January 7, 2021, to 108 months in prison, three years of supervised release and forfeiture of $288,950.
U.S. Attorney Sellinger stated that Robinson was convicted at trial of conspiracy to defraud the NWCDC facilitated by use of mails and wire transmissions, mail fraud and conspiracy to commit extortion under color of official right affecting interstate commerce.
According to U.S. Attorney Sellinger, Robinson appealed her conviction and sentence, arguing that exculpatory evidence would have shown there could not have been any extortion under color of official right because the NWCDC was neither a government agency nor a department of the City of Newark.
The Third Circuit rejected that argument, pointing out that under New Jersey law, entities like the NWCDC are deemed to provide essential governmental functions on behalf of a city and exercise the powers and responsibilities of the city with respect to provision of water supply services.