NEW JERSEY CONTRACTORS FRANK AND PETER DITOMMASO INDICTED FOR PERJURY BEFORE THE GRAND JURY INVESTIGATING RENOVATIONS ON BERNARD KERIK'S RIVERDALE APARTMENT

ROBERT T. JOHNSON, District Attorney, Bronx County, and ROSE GILL HEARN, Commissioner of the New York City Department of Investigation ("DOI"), today announced that the Grand Jury of Bronx County has indicted FRANK and PETER DITOMMASO, principals in Interstate Construction, Interstate Drywall and Interstate Materials (collectively "Interstate"), for Perjury in the First Degree. The three-count indictment charges each defendant with testifying falsely before the Bronx Grand Jury that Interstate did not pay for the renovations on Bernard Kerik's apartment in the Riverdale section of the Bronx.

The defendants surrendered this morning at the Bronx District Attorney's office. Perjury in the First Degree carries a maximum sentence on conviction of seven years in prison.

The Indictment charges FRANK DITOMMASO, 47, of Short Hills, NJ, with one count of Perjury in the First Degree in connection with his testimony before the Grand Jury investigating renovations on then-Department of Correction Commissioner Bernard Kerik's Riverdale apartment. Similarly, PETER DITOMASSO, 45, of Franklin Lakes, NJ, is charged with two counts of Perjury in the First Degree in connection with their Grand Jury appearances on March 30, 2006 and June 15, 2006 respectively. It is alleged that each defendant falsely denied that Interstate paid for the majority of the Kerik apartment renovation.

The additional perjury count against PETER DITOMASSO charges that he testified falsely before the Grand Jury that Woods Restoration Services - the general contractor for the renovations on Kerik's apartment - worked for Interstate on a project at the St. Vincent's Nursing Home in New Jersey. To the contrary, evidence developed during the investigation showed that Woods Restoration did no work at the St. Vincent's Nursing Home. The investigation showed that Interstate instead disguised some of its payments to Woods Restoration for the Kerik apartment renovations by having Woods give Interstate fraudulent and inflated invoices for other work, such as that at the St. Vincent's Nursing Home, that Woods had not in fact performed.

District Attorney Johnson said, "Honesty in sworn testimony is a crucial element in the foundation of our legal system. Perjury is not only a serious offense, it undermines the entire system of justice and must be punished."

Commissioner Rose Gill Hearn said, "It took an 18-month Grand Jury investigation by the Department of Investigation and the Bronx District Attorney's Office to uncover the truthful answer to the seemingly straightforward question of who paid for renovating a City Commissioner's residence. Despite repeated public denials by counsel and Mr. Kerik, the ex-Commissioner finally admitted that the defendants' companies did indeed pay for most of the cost. And now the defendants are charged with falsely denying that fact before the Grand Jury. Today's Indictment and last month's guilty plea by Mr. Kerik underscore the gravity of their conduct. This prosecution shows that those who would subvert the Grand Jury's truth-seeking function and the integrity of City government will be held accountable."

Less than three weeks ago, on June 30, 2006, in the Bronx County Supreme Court, Bernard Kerik pled guilty to a criminal complaint involving the defendants. Kerik admitted that while he was employed as a New York City Commissioner, knowing that the defendants intended to do business with the City of New York and that their companies, the "Interstate companies," were under investigation by the New York City Trade Waste Commission, he spoke to the City's investigators "about Interstate" and he accepted from the defendants' companies or a subsidiary, a "valuable gift," specifically, renovations valued at $165,000 to his Bronx apartment, in violation of the City's Conflicts of Interest Law. The unsealing of this indictment concludes the work of this grand jury.

The investigation was conducted jointly by staff of the Bronx District Attorney's Office and DOI, particularly, Assistant District Attorneys Stephen Bookin, Chief of the Investigations Division, Thomas Leahy, Chief of the Rackets Bureau, Dennis Consumano, Stuart Levy, and Christopher Clarke, and Detective Investigators Lt. Rocco Galasso, Walter Lopez, Daniel Donovan, Anthony Rambazis, Vincent Cantarella, and Lawrence Hinrichs and, for DOI, First Deputy Commissioner Walter Arsenault and Assistant Commissioner Robert Joyce.

Criminal complaints are accusations. Defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty.