Second-highest Birdsall executive sentenced in corruption case

The second-in-command at the former Birdsall Services Group (BSG) is sentenced to one year less in prison than his boss, for his role in a pay-to-play scenario that ultimately dissolved the Eatontown engineering firm.

Thomas Rospos, 64, of Belmar, the firm's Executive Vice-President and second-largest shareholder, was sentenced to three years for his February guilty plea to a third-degree count of tampering with public records or information, according to the office of New Jersey Acting Attorney General Robert Lougy.

Rospos paid a $150,000 fine, representing the forfeiture of political contributions on behalf of BSG, and is banned for 10 years from bidding on any public contrracts in New Jersey, and from holding a greater-than-five-percent interest in any firm that bids.

BSG founder and CEO Howard Birdsall, 73, was given four years for his guilty plea to a second-degree charge of corporate misconduct. The company's largest shareholder forfeited $49,808 to the state.

His brother, former Senior Vice President William Birdsall, 67, has been recommended for 270 days in a county jail as a condition of probation for his May 2 guilty plea to a third-degree corporate misconduct charge. He forfeited $129,115 to the state, along a public-corruption penalty of $75,000, and has a 10-year ban on public contract bidding. His sentencing is scheduled for July 11.

The March 2013 indicthment charged the company, and seven executives and shareholders, following an investigaiton by the Division of Criminal Justice Corruption Bureau. Investigators said they found a string of contributions over six years, amounting to more than $1,000,000.

Contributions to political groups and campaigns that would disqualify BSG from contracts, were disguised as personal contributions, investigators said. Workers and shareholders contributed sums up to $300, the reporting threshold for the Election Law Enforcement Commission (ELEC).

The checks were organized and sent, after which BSG reimbursed them illegally through bonuses that were omitted from documents filed with ELEC and with the government agencies awarding the contracts, investigators said.

In June 2013, BSG, as an entity, pleaded guilty to first-degree money laundering and second-degree false representations for government contracts, paying a total of $1,000,000 in penalties for public corruption profiteering and money-laundering profiteering. BSG also paid $2,600,000 to settle a civil forfeiture case filed by the Attorney General's office.

Former BSG Chief Administrative Officer Scott MacFadden, 61, of Brick Township, awaits sentencing for his January 6 guilty plea to a third-degree corporate misconduct charge. He's been recommended for 364 days in a county jail as a term of probation, along with a $30,000 forfeiture.

Also awaiting sentencing for their pre-indictment guilty pleas are former Marketing Director Philip Angarone, 44, of Mercer County's Hamilton Township, and marketing staffer Eileen Kufahl, 51, of Bradley Beach.