WHITE PLAINS – The former director of environmental services of the City School District of New Rochelle has been indicted by a federal grand jury on a bribery charge.
The charge against John Gallagher, Jr., 53, of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, stems from an alleged corruption scheme in which he solicited and accepted kickbacks from an outside contractor for the school district in the amount of 10 percent of the funds paid to the contractor’s company by the school district.
Mauro Zonzini, a former contractor for the school district, also pled guilty to bribery and tax evasion in a separate Information unsealed on Tuesday.
According to federal documents, the school district receives federal benefits significantly more than $10,000 each year for use in its buildings and grounds department. It uses outside contractors to perform maintenance and repair of facilities.
Gallagher, who worked for the district, oversaw the district’s buildings and grounds and had influence over which contractors were awarded work by the district, and over whether, when, and how contractors were assigned work and paid for that work.
Zonzini owned and controlled a construction company in Westchester County and contracted with the school district to do masonry work. He was hired each year by the district as its time and materials contractor for masonry work.
Authorities allege from about 2009 through about 2013, Gallagher engaged in a corrupt, criminal scheme, in which he solicited, demanded, and accepted were paid by Zonzini. To cover his tracks, Gallagher admitted during a secretly recorded conversation, that he kept the payments in his car or trunk and in some instances he used cash to make payments directly toward living expenses, without depositing it in his bank account.
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