Former mayor to be sentenced
By Nathan Mayberg
TRENTON — Former Sparta Mayor Brian Brady will be sentenced on Jan. 30 on charges that he misused a law enforcement criminal database to run background checks while serving as a Human Services police captain.
The Human Services Police provide police services at developmental centers and psychiatric hospitals operated by the Department of Human Services.
Brady, 53, was found guilty by Mercer County Superior Court Judge Andrew Smithson in July after a six-week bench trial.
Smithson found Brady guilty on charges brought by the State Attorney General's Office of second-degree official misconduct and computer theft.
Smithson aquitted Brady of other charges relating to official misconduct, theft by deception and tampering with public records.
Brady faces five to 10 years in prison for the two convictions, according to the State Attorney General's Office.
Brady will be barred from public employment as a result of his conviction.
Brady was convicted of accessing a police database to check the criminal records of the Sussex Skyhawks, a minor league baseball team, and a health care worker he was considering hiring.
His attorney, Mario Iavicoli, disagreed with the conviction, saying, "He didn't steal anything."
Iavicoli contended that the information his client sought was public information that he could have gotten elsewhere.
Iavicoli claimed that Brady looked up the information regarding the baseball players at the request of the team since they were going on a trip to Canada and the team didn't want to have any issues at the border.
Brady was considering the health care worker to take care of his mother, and was concerned she may have been an undocumented person, Iavicoli said.
Iavicoli said that burglars get less jail time than Brady is facing.
"It is the most ridiculous thing," he said.
In a statement issued after Brady's conviction, Acting Attorney General John Hoffman said "this captain apparently thought that the rules of his department and the laws of this state did not apply to him, because he repeatedly broke them to suit his own purposes."
Elie Honig, director of the state Division of Criminal Justice said in a release that Brady "repeatedly treated a restricted law enforcement database like his personal information clearinghouse."
"There's no room in law enforcement for this type of rogue behavior," Honig said.
Iavicoli said that five to 10 years of jail time for Brady "would be a tragedy."
"I believe a miscarriage of justice has occurred," Iavicoli said.
The Division of Criminal Justice has established a toll-free tip line at 1-866-TIPS-4CJ to report corruption.
Reporter Nathan Mayberg can be reached at comm.reporter@strausnews.com or by calling 845-469-9000 ext. 359.