NEWARK, N.J. (AP) - A former contractor for the company that oversaw Newark’s water services has been sentenced to two years in prison for his role in a kickback scheme.
Eighty-year-old James Porter, of East Orange, was sentenced on Thursday after previously pleading guilty to giving kickbacks to a Newark Watershed Conservation and Development Corp. employee in exchange for getting business for two of his own companies.
He pleaded guilty to giving more than $500,000 in kickbacks to Donald Bernard, who was sentenced last week to eight years in prison. The water company gave Porter’s businesses nearly $800,000 for work that prosecutors say was inflated.
Porter was also sentenced to two years of supervised release and must pay back $711,083 to the water corporation and IRS.
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