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Dec.16, 2009

Luzerne County Housing Authority Board member Gerald J. Bonner agreed Tuesday to plead guilty in a bribery scheme and resign from the board and his elected position as a county jury commissioner.

Bonner, 66, will admit to passing a $1,400 bribe from an authority contractor to another board member. He faces up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine, but federal prosecutors will recommend a sentence of probation, in part because of his "age, health problems and cooperation," according to his plea agreement. Bonner will be able to withdraw his plea if the sentencing judge does not accept the recommendation of probation.

Copies of Bonner's plea and statement are available. See a copy of the indictment here.

Bonner, who has agreed to cooperate with investigations into wrongdoing by others, must resign as an authority board member and jury commissioner within 10 days under his agreement with prosecutors.

Bonner could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

He is one of 22 people, including three county judges and seven current or former county officials, charged in an ongoing federal corruption probe.

Bonner was indicted in September by a federal grand jury that alleged he passed a $1,400 bribe from an unnamed contractor to another board member between Jan. 1 and June 1. The indictment said the payment was a reward to the board member for supporting the contractor's efforts to secure contracts with the authority, which manages government-subsidized housing.

Bonner's attorney, Michael I. Butera, confirmed in October that federal prosecutors alleged the bribe was paid by prominent Wilkes-Barre engineer Michael J. Pasonick Jr., whose firm was awarded two contracts worth about $278,000 for work on improvement projects at two authority housing facilities in 2008.

Butera and Pasonick could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

The former housing authority board member who accepted the bribe, William Maguire, has pleaded guilty and is awaiting sentencing.

Maguire, a former Wilkes-Barre City Police Department detective and law enforcement consultant with Luzerne County government, could not be reached for comment Tuesday. Maguire has ties to New York-based security and staffing firms whose contracts with the county are under investigation by the FBI. He is cooperating with federal investigators.

Bonner pleaded not guilty to the bribery-related charge in September and was to have a hearing today before U.S. District Judge Thomas I. Vanaskie on his motion to keep an admission he allegedly gave to FBI agents from being introduced as evidence at his trial.

No date has been set for Bonner to enter his guilty plea.

Bonner was first elected jury commissioner in 1997 and re-elected in 2001 and 2005. After his indictment, he ran unopposed for re-election in November and won a fourth four-year term.

The county has two elected jury commissioners, one from each major party, whose duties have dwindled because of computerization and the use of state driver's license data to pick jurors.

Each commissioner is paid about $10,000 per year and is eligible for county-provided health and retirement benefits.

County officials have said the governor would nominate someone to take Bonner's post in the event of a resignation. The nominee would have to be confirmed by the state Senate.

Bonner, a longtime activist in the county Democratic Party and former owner of the Carriage Stop Inn in Plains Township, the site of numerous party functions before it burned down in 1998, was named to the housing authority board by the county commissioners in 1993. The housing authority post was an unpaid position.

Authority Executive Director David Fagula and Solicitor Bruce Anders could not be reached for comment Tuesday.