Former Middlesex Boro Mayor Ron DiMura Admits To Theft

MIDDLESEX BOROUGH, NJ — Former Middlesex borough mayor Ron DiMura pleaded guilty Thursday to stealing more than $75,000 from local political campaigns, and funneling the money into his own bank account.

The guilty plea was announced by the New Jersey Attorney General, which prosecuted the case.

Patch reported when DiMura was first charged last year: He was accused of stealing from the campaigns, and using a local charity he runs — ostensibly to give scholarships to Middlesex High School graduates — to instead launder the money, alleged the New Jersey attorney general.

DiMura, 64, resigned as Middlesex mayor after he was indicted last December. His indictment is here.

On Thursday, DiMura pleaded guilty to second-degree theft by deception. Prosecutors are still asking that he be sentenced to seven years in state prison, despite his plea agreement.

Prosecutors said they want the "substantial" sentence to serve a warning to other public officials about corruption.

“DiMura’s thefts were all the more egregious because he used a local charity to hide his actions,” said Thomas Eicher, director of the Attorney General’s Office of Public Integrity and Accountability. “With this guilty plea, calling for a substantial prison sentence, we send a strong message that we expect honesty and integrity from our public officials in New Jersey, and those who act corruptly will face serious consequences.”

He will permanently be barred from public office and employment in New Jersey, must pay restitution in the amount of $83,372, and must forfeit the remainder of the funds he stole.

Over the past seven years, DiMura served as treasurer for the Middlesex Borough Democratic Campaign Committee as well as a number of campaigns for candidates seeking local office in Middlesex borough.

Prosecutors say that between January 2013 and June 2019, he used his position as treasurer for the campaigns and the party campaign committee to steal approximately $190,000 by making purported donations to a local charitable organization that he ran.

That charity is the Fellin-Medler Scholarship, which annually awards $1,000 to a graduating Middlesex High School senior, sources told MyCentralJersey.

Except the scholarship only paid students a small fraction of the funds, the AG says. Most of the money was allegedly instead funneled to DiMura's personal bank account or a business account that DiMura controlled.

Prior Patch reporting: New Details Revealed In Middlesex Mayor's Corruption Charges (Dec. 2019)

In addition, the investigation revealed that DiMura stole more than $75,000 from various individual investors by creating the false impression that they were loaning him funds that he would invest on their behalf and that would generate large interest payments for them.

In reality, DiMura did not make any investments with the money. Instead, he deposited the funds into his personal bank account or the business account he controlled. He used some funds to pay back the investors, but most of them did not receive any of the promised interest and are owed substantial amounts of their principal.

Finally, DiMura used his position as mayor to solicit $10,000 in donations for his charity from a developer doing business with the borough, without disclosing that he intended to use the money for his personal benefit. He filed false or incomplete Local Government Ethics Law Financial Disclosure Statements that failed to disclose the funds he received from the charity.

DiMura was represented by William Fetky of New Brunswick. He will be sentenced Jan. 15, 2021.