New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin has filed criminal charges against the mayor of Clark following an investigation into racial slurs allegedly made by Mayor Salvator Bonaccorso. While acting in his official capacity as mayor, Bonaccorso operated his landscaping and illegal tank removal business out of his township office, utilizing municipal resources including township provided faxes, printers and computers to run the company.
Bonaccorso, 63, is also charged with witness tampering and falsifying records. He allegedly fraudulently used an engineer’s name, license number and forged signature on permit applications submitted to municipalities for tank removals. The mayor did not provide a comment when reached out to by CBS New York. A Clark resident said, “If a mayor or someone or politician is doing illegal things, then they should resign.”
Another Clark resident said before the charges were announced, “Clark is very good, a good place. And [Bonaccorso] made it better than the mayor before him.” The criminal charges were the result of another investigation into the police department, its chief and claims of racist comments made by the mayor at another official. A 43-page report alleged racially-motivated arrests as well as failure to investigate allegations of misconduct. “As a percentage of the population, Black individuals were arrested at a disproportionate rate,” said Platkin. The police department is now under the county’s supervision and records obtained by Platkin’s office were not enough to charge police officials.