Woodstone CEO pleads guilty in New Jersey

Schoor to be sentenced for conspiracy

By FRITZ MAYER

NEWARK, NJ — Howard Schoor, the CEO of the Woodstone Companies, which built the expensive custom homes at The Chapin Estate in Bethel, NY, has pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to defraud the public after admitting to paying $15,000 to the former mayor and to the sewer authority chairman of Ocean Township. In return, the officials supported efforts by the engineering firm Schoor DePalma, founded by Schoor, to win contracts from the township.

The payments were made in 2001 and 2002; Schoor pleaded guilty on September 22. But in a statement released after the plea, Shoor’s lawyer, Justin Walder, said that while his client accepts responsibility for the crime, the payments were not initiated by Schoor but were, instead, solicited by the two officials.

Further, the statement said, “The government and Mr. Schoor agree that all services were performed by Schoor DePalma in a professional and proper manner.” Schoor also asserted that no one else at the firm, from which he is now retired, knew about the payments.

According to a press release from Christopher J. Christie, a U.S. Attorney in Newark, Schoor DePalma provided engineering and consulting services to Township of Ocean Sewerage Authority (TOSA) from 1996 to 2002. At the time of the payments, former Mayor Terrance Weldon was on the board of TOSA and Stephen Kessler was its chairman. Both were in a position to vote on contracts.

According to the release, Weldon pleaded guilty on October 10, 2002, to three counts of extortion unrelated to this case and was sentenced in 2007 to 58 months in prison. Kessler pleaded guilty in 2005 to extortion and now awaits sentencing.

Schoor faces sentencing in January 2009, with a maximum possible sentence of five years in prison.

The charge against Schoor was originally bribery, but in the plea agreement that was changed to paying officials a “gratuity.”

All three men are now being sued by the township, which is seeking punitive damages.

Locally, the suit involving Schoor and Steve Dubrovsky, president of The Woodstone Companies, versus Bob Barrett, a Smallwood resident, has entered the discovery phase.

The long simmering issue remains whether The Woodstone Companies improperly blocked access to the Toronto Reservoir to town residents by installing a gate, effectively closing off access to the reservoir.

Also at issue is whether an agent of the company improperly held Barrett against his will when Barrett sought to use the reservoir for recreational purposes and whether Woodstone improperly had Barrett arrested.