Four Jersey City judges charged in ticket-fixing scandal

The New Jersey Star Ledger reports:

The state Attorney General's Office today charged four Jersey City Municipal Court judges with fixing parking and traffic tickets for themselves, family and friends.

Jersey City Chief Judge Wanda Molina faces second-degree charges of official misconduct for improperly disposing of tickets for her female companion, said Attorney General Anne Milgram. Molina, who resigned on Sept. 21, faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted of the most serious charge.

Judges Victor Sison and Pauline Sica were also charged with second-degree official misconduct for allegedly trying to fix tickets for Sison and his immediate family. Judge Irwin Rosen was charged with third-degree official misconduct for fixing his own traffic tickets, punishable by up to five years in prison.

News of the scandal has roiled the municipal court, where five judges and three court workers have resigned, taken leave or been suspended in the last two months. The turnover forced state Supreme Court Chief Justice Stuart Rabner to install a state judge to run the city court's day-to-day operations and prompted Mayor Jerramiah Healy to swear in four new judges.

"When judges take official action in cases where they have a personal stake or someone close to them has a stake, it seriously erodes public confidence in our judicial system," Milgram said at an afternoon news conference. She said the investigation is ongoing.

The probe began in late August when the state Superior Court received a tip that two municipal court employees may be fixing tickets. State Superior Court administrators, who have oversight of municipal courts, promptly began an investigation.

Court employees Victor Matos and Virginia Pagan were later suspended for allegedly fixing their own traffic tickets by manipulating the automated traffic system they were hired to run, said Joseph Davis, the trial court administrator for the state Superior Court in Hudson County.
Then, on Sept. 21, Molina resigned after being confronted with evidence that she fixed tickets. Four days later, Rosen took an unpaid leave of absence after the court's probe uncovered evidence he got rid of his own parking ticket, officials said.

It was about that time that Milgram's office began looking into the ticket-fixing scandal.

Since then, Sison, Sica and Judge Vincent Signorile have taken leaves of absence.

The New Jersey legend grows.You'll notice that the political affiliations of the judges seem to be forgotten.