Westfield BOE Business Administrator Pleads Not Guilty to Bribery Charge

Suspended Westfield Board of Education Business Administrator Bob Berman pleaded not guilty Monday morning to a charge of second-degree bribery, issued last week in connection with an investigation into bid-rigging in three school districts.

Berman entered the plea shortly after 11 a.m. during a short appearance before state Superior Court Judge Joan Robinson Gross in Elizabeth. Berman was charged last week by New Jersey Attorney General Paula Dow with accepting more than $13,000 in windows and doors from Metropolitan Metal Window Company, of Scotch Plains, in return for recommending that the BOE designate the company as the school district’s contractor of record.

Berman, accompanied to court by his attorney, Blair R. Zwillman, spoke little during the hearing; Zwillman enter the formal plea for him. Berman, clad in a dark suit, white dress shirt, powder blue sweater and gray overcoat with no tie, answered direct questions from Judge Robinson Gross to confirm his South Plainfield address and that he received mail at the address, which he described as a single-family home.

Robinson Gross allowed Berman to remain free on his own recognizance. Berman received a summons complaint with the charges last Wednesday from the attorney general’s office. No prosecutors from the attorney general’s office were present in the courtroom during the hearing.

Berman entered the jail as part of a line from central intake, uncuffed. The BOE’s chief business official, who was suspended from his post last week, followed instructions from sheriff’s officers to wait in line, fourth from the front, to be processed through a metal detector in the gray cinderblock waiting area outside of Robinson Gross’ court. Berman quickly took a seat on a bench next to Zwillman after going through security, avoiding eye contact with others, including several charged in the same case.

Berman’s appearance in Robinson Gross’ courtroom on the second floor of the Union County jail followed his formal booking on the charges in the central intake facility. Berman appeared subdued as he waited on a wooden bench in the central intake hallway. Berman could be overheard on the bench telling Zwillman that he was looking for receipts connected with the home improvements that Attorney General Paula Dow said he took as bribes.

During a brief statement last week, Zwillman said he planned to work with Dow’s office to show that Berman was innocent of the charges. Berman declined comment-referring questions to Zwillman.

In the courtroom, Berman sat silently on a bench behind Zwillman, staring straight ahead. He was the second defendant called before Robinson Gross. He and Zwillman quickly left the building following his appearance.

In addition to Berman, Robinson Gross accepted not-guilty pleas from several others in the case, including Mountainside engineer Ken Disko, who is charged as the leader of the bid-rigging scandal, which involved work done in the Westfield, Scotch Plains-Fanwood and Tinton Falls school districts. Contractors Stephen Gallagher and Martin Starr also appeared in court.

Gallagher, dressed in a black suit and tie, stood during much of his time in the central intake and court waiting rooms, talking to his attorney and looking at his cell phone. Gallagher posted a $50,000 bail last week following his arrest. Gallagher, in his only comments in court, told Robinson Gross that he did not know the zip code for his Cliffwood Park home, stating that he had recently moved to the property.

Berman and the other defendants will next appear in court at 8:30 a.m. on May 11 before Superior Court Judge John Triarsi for a hearing to handle pre-trial resolution. Robinson Gross said that if there is no pre-trial resolution, the defendants could end up before a grand jury and ultimately face a jury trial.