Ex-assemblyman Van Pelt is expected to return to witness stand in N.J. corruption trial

OCEAN COUNTY -- Former state Assemblyman Daniel Van Pelt is expected to return to the witness stand this morning for cross-examination in his federal corruption trial in Trenton. Van Pelt took the witness stand on Tuesday and denied taking a $10,000 bribe from convicted real estate developer Solomon Dwek. The ex-lawmaker testified the money was a fee for his...

Matt Rainey/The Star-LedgerDaniel Van Pelt exits US Federal Court Monday with his attorney Robert Fuggi Jr. Van Pelt was one of 44 people arrested last summer in a federal sting involving alleged political corruption and money laundering.
OCEAN COUNTY -- Former state Assemblyman Daniel Van Pelt is expected to return to the witness stand this morning for cross-examination in his federal corruption trial in Trenton.

Van Pelt took the witness stand on Tuesday and denied taking a $10,000 bribe from convicted real estate developer Solomon Dwek. The ex-lawmaker testified the money was a fee for his consulting services for a development project in Ocean Township, the Ocean County community where he served as mayor and committeeman for 10 years.

Defense attorneys originally planned to call as their first witnesses local Republican leaders in whom Van Pelt allegedly confided he planned to leave the township committee to become a consultant.

But Assistant U.S. Attorney Rachael Honig had argued court rules permitted those witnesses to testify about Van Pelt's comments to them only after Van Pelt testified. U.S. District Judge Joel Pisano, who is presiding over the trial in Trenton, said he was inclined to agree with the government's assertion.

Defense attorneys also plan to call Marci Hochman, general ethics counsel to the state Assembly. Van Pelt said he sought advice from Hochman days after accepting the cash to ask her what his limitations were if he became a consultant.

Charged with extortion and bribery, Van Pelt is accused of taking the bribe in exchange for his help in expediting environmental permits for a redevelopment project in his town.

Dwek, posing as fictitious developer David Esenbach, secretly taped conversations with Van Pelt, including one in which Van Pelt accepted the envelope of cash on Feb. 21, 2009.

Dwek, a failed Monmouth County real estate developer, was charged in 2006 with defrauding PNC Bank out of $50 million. He admitted he ran a Ponzi scheme to buy and sell properties primarily in Monmouth County, costing investors millions of dollars. He spent two years working with the FBI as part of a massive public corruption and money laundering sting in New Jersey.