Passaic County officials are pursuing legal action to recoup part of the $13 million they spent buying surveillance cameras and security equipment for the Sheriff’s Office from a Bergen County company targeted in a federal probe last year.
The Passaic commissioners voted Tuesday night to spend up to $200,000 for a private law firm for a possible lawsuit against the local company, Packetalk of Lyndhurst, which the county resolution said “fraudulently misrepresented that its products were compliant with federal and state law,” including the National Security Defense Act.
The sheriff’s office has kept much of the equipment it bought from Packetalk in storage amid allegations that it may have originated with a Chinese company banned from doing business in the United States.
Federal charges against Packetalk owner dropped
Federal authorities last December cited the national security law when they filed criminal charges against Tamer Zakhary, owner of Packetalk.
The United States Attorney’s Office in June dropped the charges against Zakhary, without providing any explanation for the dismissal. But authorities said they were taking that action “without prejudice,” the legal language that allows prosecutors to pursue the same case in the future.
Passaic County’s Packetalk purchases took place between Nov. 2019 and Aug. 2022, while Richard Berdnik served as the Sheriff. Berdnik committed suicide by shooting himself in a restaurant men’s room several weeks after the charges against Zakhary were filed. Officials have not provided any explanation for why Berdnik may have killed himself.
Zakhary’s lawyer, Charles McKenna, declined to comment about the Passaic commissioners’ decision on Tuesday to hire the Monmouth County law firm of Cleary Giacobbe Alfieri Jacobs, LLC.
In the resolution hiring the firm, the Passaic commissioners said they wanted to recoup the money paid to Packetalk so they could buy new surveillance equipment that would comply with federal and state laws.
Packetalk: Feds drop charges against NJ businessman who sold security equipment to Passaic County
When did Passaic County purchase the cameras?
The county in 2022 spent $2.18 million to get 255 high-definition security cameras from Packetalk, according to government purchase orders.
But only 11 of those 255 cameras have been installed and placed in operation, officials said earlier this year. The cameras that are being used were replaced with different devices by Packetalk in order to be compliant, officials said.
The county sheriff’s office also is using 27 moblie camera trailers and 15 traffic signboards equipped with cameras that were bought from Packetalk, all of them being compliant replacements, officials said.
In dismissing the charges against Zakhary, United States Attorney Philip Sellinger has not publicly revealed whether law enforcement agencies that bought equipment from Packetalk were cleared to go ahead and use the security cameras and other devices.
Federal authorities’ original charges of wire fraud and making false statements against Zakhary said his company sold at least $35 million worth of cameras and other equipment to various New Jersey law enforcement agencies. But the United States Attorney has not identified the buyers.
Paterson Press obtained county purchasing records to confirm that the sheriff’s office was among the law enforcement agencies that bought from Packetalk.
Joe Malinconico is editor of Paterson Press. Email: editor@patersonpress.com
This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Passaic County claims fraud over purchase of $13M in security equipment for sheriff
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