TRENTON β The Mercer County Prosecutor's Office identified at least four instances of Trenton Water Works employees providing unauthorized water hookups to homes β and numerous other allegations of theft, malfeasance, and politically motivated job moves β during its investigation of the Trenton Water Works, grand jury transcripts reveal. During three days of testimony in December and January , grand jury members heard about systemic and long-term problems of corruption at the city-owned water utility that serves customers in Trenton, Lawrence, Ewing, Hamilton and Hopewell Township.
Reported thefts of equipment went back a decade, employees testified. And off-the-books water hookups and repairs had been occurring at least as far back as , according to the grand jury transcripts obtained by The Times. The grand jury hearings concluded in January with the indictment of three Trenton Water Works employees.
No one else was charged. Nearly three years later, Davis is in prison and the illicit water hookups appear to have stopped, Joe McIntyre, the general superintendent of Trenton Water, said this week. But there are still problems with theft that McIntyre, who returned to the job of running the Water Works two weeks ago, said he is determined to investigate. Engineering technician John Cardaciotto testified this indicated that employees of the Water Works were hooking up homes to water lines without securing permits or reporting it to the utility.
Some of the houses had no meters installed and were receiving free water. How are people getting away with this? The source also alleged private plumbing jobs were being done by employees on city time, who often neglected to obtain permits before tearing up streets, Russell said during her testimony three years ago.
McIntyre was previously general superintendent from to Public Works Director Luis Mollinedo persuaded McIntyre to come back to the post this year in part because Mollinedo rescinded the Water Works overtime policy the Mack administration put in place in October This year, Mollinedo returned overtime authority to technicians, said McIntyre, who was back in charge of both the water and sewer utilities as of Nov.
