By: Najla Alexander
NJ authorities announced that former Wildwood Mayor Peter J. Byron pleaded guilty to fraudulently participating in the State Health Benefits Program.
Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin stated that Byron further pleaded guilty to failing to identify his outside employment in mandatory disclosure forms and failing to report income from that outside job on state tax returns.
Officials said Byron, 68, of Wildwood, who resigned from his municipal office in September 2023, admitted to the crimes during a hearing on September 27, 2024, before New Jersey Superior Court Judge Bernard DeLury, Jr., presiding in Cape May County.
Byron pleaded guilty to one count of theft by unlawful taking (2nd degree) in connection with the health-benefits fraud case, officials say.
In the other case involving the undisclosed job, officials stated, Byron further pleaded guilty to falsifying or tampering with records (4th degree) and filing a fraudulent tax return (3rd degree).
The plea agreement with the Corruption Bureau of OPIA resolves both indictments. In exchange for his guilty pleas, prosecutors have agreed to recommend that the court impose an aggregate sentence of three years in New Jersey state prison, officials said. Byron also must pay restitution and enter a consent order with a lifetime ban on public office and employment.
“Illegally obtaining benefits is not what holding public office should be about. Rather, it should be about honorably serving the people you represent,” said Attorney General Platkin.
“This was a self-serving, nearly decade-long betrayal of the public’s trust that saddled New Jersey residents with a six-figure bill for the defendant’s personal gain.”
“As this case demonstrates, the career prosecutors in OPIA’s Corruption Bureau will relentlessly pursue those who abuse public resources and public office and will hold them accountable,” said OPIA Executive Director Drew Skinner.
In July 2023, authorities say, a state grand jury in Trenton returned a 12-count indictment against Byron, Wildwood Mayor Ernest Troiano Jr., and City Commissioner Steve Mikulski on charges of official misconduct, theft by unlawful taking, and other offenses in connection with the alleged health-benefits fraud.
According to statements made in public court proceedings and filings:
Byron, Troiano, and Mikulski were ineligible to participate in the State Health Benefits Program (SHBP) and receive publicly funded healthcare because they were never full-time employees, which SHBP participation requires, according to officials.
Officials stated their hours of work were not fixed at 35 or more per week, they did not receive vacation, sick, or personal days, and they did not maintain a regular schedule. It is alleged, however, that all three fraudulently enrolled in the SHBP anyway and illegally received taxpayer-funded health benefits.
As a result, Wildwood and the SHBP paid nearly $609,000 in premiums and health benefits claims on behalf of Byron from July 2011 through October 2021, officials said.
In April 2024, a state grand jury returned another seven-count indictment against Byron. In the new indictment, he was accused of abusing his official position to unlawfully pursue and obtain a job from an attorney who worked for the Wildwood city government, authorities say.
Further, officials said, the indictment alleged that he failed to disclose the job in mandatory financial disclosure forms and failed to pay state taxes on his earnings from that position.
According to officials, elected as a city commissioner before serving as mayor, Byron used his commissioner’s position to unlawfully pursue and obtain employment from that attorney, who had a contract with the City of Wildwood and who held official appointed positions with the City.
Byron then submitted the required annual financial disclosure statements to the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs, but he failed to properly identify the job with the attorney as a source of income in 2017 and 2018, officials stated.
Additionally, the investigation revealed that Byron failed to pay the required state income tax on income earned from New Jersey sources during those years, authorities say. His state income tax return falsely omitted required New Jersey-sourced income earned during that time period.