Hudson County Employee Charged With Accepting Bribes

JERSEY CITY, NJ — A woman who previously worked as a county employee with the Hudson County Office on Aging was charged Thursday with accepting bribes for referring patients in need of home health care aides, U.S. Attorney Craig Carpenito announced.

Myrtha Nicolas, 61, who lives in Jersey City, made her initial appearance in Newark federal court Thursday and was released on $100,000 unsecured bond. She worked at the Hudson County Office on Aging for 19 years, her LinkedIn bio shows.

She was charged with one count of extortion under color of official right. Federal prosecutors say she referred patients to a specific home health care agency in return for $500 kickbacks per patient.

According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:

Nicolas worked as a referral coordinator for the Hudson County Office on Aging. As part of her job, she coordinated and assigned patients with disabilities to companies that provide home health care aides.

In June of 2016, Nicolas was approached by a confidential witness (working with the police) who was a self-employed executive of a home health care company. Nicolas agreed to help refer patients to the witness and agreed to accept $500 dollars per patient she referred to the CW’s company.

On Aug. 4, 2016, Nicolas accepted a payment of $600 for the referral of a patient. The witness complained that they were forced to redirect the patient to another health care company because the patient proved difficult, prompting Nicolas to assure them that they “will get the easy ones,” in the future.

On Jan. 23, 2017, Nicolas accepted another $600 cash payment for a patient referral, prosecutors say. Nicolas confirmed that she had previously received gift cards from the witness years earlier, but expressed no preference whether future payments from the witness would be in cash or gift cards. On Oct. 17, 2017, Nicolas accepted a final corrupt payment of $1,000 from the witness for patient referrals, promising that in terms of future patients, “whatever I have, you’ll have.”

If found guilty, she could face up to 25 years in prison. She is no longer employed with the Hudson County Office on Aging. How much she made as a county employee remains unknown.