Convicted vote fraudster Rocio Rivera finally loses her government job, 17 months later

Friday, 12 October 2012

Of course they let her resign rather than suffer the ignominity of being fired. But at long last Rocio Rivera has forfeited her government job.

A clerk at the Essex County Sheriff's Office resigned her job this week more than a year after agreeing to forfeit the post as part of a guilty plea to voter fraud.
The employee, Rocio Rivera, "resigned her position with this department on Tuesday," Sheriff's Office spokesman Kevin Lynch confirmed today.

It took 17 months for Sheriff Armando Fontoura's wheels of justice to catch up to one of his own employees. Because even though she was convicted of voter fraud, it was all in a good cause — re-electing one of Fontoura's boss's henchwomen to the NJ State Senate. And nobody ever said Joe DiVincenzo doesn't take care of his friends. Seventeen months of paychecks you're not entitled to kinda eases the pain.
And I'm sure it's just a happy coincidence that self-appointed taxpayer advocate Phil Orphanidis was at last week's Freeholder meeting raising a big stink over Ms. Rivera's immunity from the consequences of her felony conviction. Yup. A little sunlight works wonders!

Posted at 12:08 by Chris Wysocki   [/nj_politics]

http://wyblog.us/blog/nj_politics/convicted-fraudster-finally-resigns.html

http://iowntheworld.com/blog/?p=153518

Essex County Sheriff's clerk resigns a year after pleading guilty to voter fraud

Published: Thursday, October 11, 2012, 5:51 PM     Updated: Thursday, October 11, 2012, 9:05 PM

 By Alexi Friedman/The Star-Ledger 
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Frances Micklow/The Star-LedgerA clerk in the Essex County sheriff officer resigned this week as part of a guilty plea in a voter fraud cause.

NEWARK — A clerk at the Essex County Sheriff’s Office resigned her job this week more than a year after agreeing to forfeit the post as part of a guilty plea to voter fraud.

The employee, Rocio Rivera, "resigned her position with this department on Tuesday," Sheriff’s Office spokesman Kevin Lynch confirmed today.

Her departure followed the sheriff’s office receipt late last week of a judge’s order — originally signed 17 months ago — instructing Rivera immediately forfeit her job. The state Attorney General’s Office, which prosecuted Hunterdon County woman, sent the judge’s order to the sheriff’s office, which had previously maintained it had never received the document.

Rivera, 52, pleaded guilty in May 2011 to third-degree absentee ballot fraud for her campaign work to elect Teresa Ruiz to the state Senate for Essex County in 2007. Rivera stayed on as a clerk in the sheriff’s office civil division, though she should have been fired at the time of the plea, state officials said.

And she shouldn’t have been allowed to resign, Attorney General spokesman Peter Aseltine said today. "We are working with county officials to ensure that the official record will reflect that Rocio Rivera was terminated because of her criminal conviction," he said.

http://www.nj.com/essex/index.ssf/2012/10/essex_county_sherriffs_clerk_r.html