News

State probes Passaic County motor pool

Published August 20, 2010

Investigators from the state Attorney
General’s office searched the Passaic County
Sheriff’s Department Motor Pool garage in the
rear of Lambert Castle in Paterson on
Thursday morning.

A team of investigators, some wearing
rubber gloves, searched the garage and the
office of Paul Mariano, the civilian director of
the motor pool. Investigators removed a V-6
engine from the garage and loaded it on to a
flatbed truck and took it into evidence.

A spokesman for the Attorney General’s
office, Peter Aseltine, declined to comment.
Aseltine cited a department policy that the
office does not confirm or deny any ongoing
investigation.

Mariano, 49, of Wayne, went on vacation last
week, Sheriff’s Department spokesman Bill
Maer said. Before leaving, Mariano submitted
his retirement papers and is scheduled to
retire on Dec. 1, Maer said.

Mariano could not be reached for comment
on Thursday night. A boy who answered the
door at Mariano’s home in Wayne, who said
he was Mariano’s son, said his father was at
work. The boy said he had not heard from
his father all day on Thursday.

The motor pool is where sheriff’s
department vehicles are taken for repairs.
The unit is located in a series of garages
behind the Lambert Castle Museum on Valley
Road in Paterson.

Mariano, in addition to serving as head of the
motor pool, was a close friend of former
county Sheriff Jerry Speziale and served as
Speziale’s driver.

Speziale resigned abruptly last week to take
a job with the Port Authority Police
Department, citing family reasons.

Investigators from the Attorney General’s
office arrived shortly before 9 a.m. and began
searching the motor pool office and several
adjoining garages. They spent about three
hours at the motor pool complex and were
seen checking several sheriff’s vehicles and
speaking with motor pool mechanics during
the search.

The investigators would not comment to
reporters who had gathered at the scene.

Maer said the Sheriff’s Department was
cooperating fully with what he confirmed was
a criminal investigation.

“The department has not been informed of
any charges regarding any employees,” Maer
said, adding that the Sheriff’s Department
was “working closely” with the Attorney’s
General office.

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Thursday, August 19, 2010
Last updated: Thursday August 19, 2010, 7:55 PM

BY RICHARD COWEN
The Record
STAFF WRITER