NEW CITY – A former Spring
Valley village trustee has been convicted after a bench trial in connection
with municipal corruption charges.
Vilair Fonvil, 54, of West Orange, New Jersey, was found guilty of corrupting
the government, grand larceny as a crime of public corruption, money laundering,
and receiving reward for official misconduct, all as felonies.
While serving on the Spring Valley Board of Trustees, Fonvil stole $11,000
from over $24,000 in financing the trustees approved for the 2016 summer
camp program.
The village board, at the urging of Fonvil, passed a resolution in June
2016 authorizing the payment of $24,225 to Jermika Depas for the purpose
of coordinating the transportation of Spring Valley children to summer
camps in the Town of Ramapo.
The contract, assembled by Fonvil and signed by Fonvil on behalf of the
village, called for Depas to hire six bus monitors to supervise the children.
Fonvil and Depas hired only three monitors.
Fonvil was involved in the day-to-day operations of the program and was
solely responsible for paying the three monitors. The monitors were paid
in cash and were never issued W2 forms.
Days into the camp program, the two men stopped using the bus company
that was being paid directly by the village in transport the children.
