Crime & Safety

Former Garage Director Sentenced to Four Years

Paolo "Paul" Mariano convicted of stealing $20,000, engine.

The former director of the Passaic County Garage was sentenced to four years in state prison Thursday on two counts of second-degree official misconduct.

Paolo "Paul" Mariano, 53, of Wayne, to the misconduct charges March 28. The charges stem from an investigation by the attorney general's Division of Criminal Justice Corruption Bureau.

Mariano admitted that he stole about $20,000 in cash that was found inside a 2000 Ford Taurus seized during a narcotics investigation by the Passaic County Drug Task Force in 2004.

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Authorities said the car was being repaired for use as an undercover vehicle in 2005 when county mechanics found the cash in a hidden compartment. The mechanics told Mariano, who took possession of the car and cash, directing them not to report anything. Mariano then had a mechanic disassemble the car.

Mariano also admitted that he directed county mechanics to remove an engine from a 1995 Toyota 4-Runner that had been seized by the county. Mariano had the mechanics place the engine into a 1993 Toyota 4-Runner that he gave to his girlfriend.

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Mariano will be permanently barred from public employment and must pay $20,000 in restitutions as a result of the plea bargain.

He was originally scheduled to be sentenced April 21.

"Prison is the appropriate sentence for Mariano, who shamelessly stole cash and property that would have been forfeited to fund law enforcement efforts in Passaic County," Attorney General Paula Dow said in a statement. "His actions showed a complete disregard for the law and for the county he was supposed to serve."


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