With Hannon gone and Hrustich on his way, the Fire Starter can now return its attention to King John the Nefarious.
The Fire Starter has highlighted Endicott Mayor John Bertoni's dirty dealings and blatant nepotism. We have highlighted the many instances where public money has been spent to line the pockets of the FOJ's (Friends of John). Many family and friends have received no show or little work jobs. Village property has been gifted to friends and family. While complaining about firefighters and police officers, Bertoni has systematically fleeced the village for his friends and family. It is enough to make Boss Tweed blush!
Which brings us to the latest bit of dirty dealings by Mayor John Bertoni. Within the last year, King John the Nepotist hired FOJ Darin Moody, to work in the Village Street department as a laborer. Despite the lack of any competitive testing or apparent relevant experience, this FOJ was given a job in the village.
The Fire Starter was perusing local media outlets when to our surprise we came upon the following item in the Norwich newspaper:
Village of Endicott man arrested for Grand Larceny 4th Degree and Burglary 3rd Degree
On June 25, 2012 a Village of Endicott man was arrested for Grand Larceny 4th Degree and Burglary 3rd Degree.Deputy Loiselle arrested Darin M. Moody after concluding an investigation that started during a traffic stop. Deputy Loiselle was assisted by Oxford P.D. during a traffic stop in which two stolen computers were located in Moody’s vehicle. The computers were found to have just been stolen from Wal-Mart prior to the traffic stop. Moody is charged with Burglary for allegedly entering Wal-Mart with the intent to steal property while he is currently banned from Wal-Mart stores. Moody was arraigned in the Town of Norwich court and remanded to the custody of the Sheriff on $5,000 cash bail. Moody is to appear in Town of Norwich Court at a later date.
Arrested – Darin M. Moody Age: 41
Charges – Grand Larceny 4th Degree and Burglary 3rd Degree.
The Fire Starter has learned that this is not Mr. Moody's first brush with the law. Apparently, he is well known to local Wal-Mart personnel and is banned from entering any store in the area.
Mr. Moody is still a probationary employee in the Village of Endicott. As a result, he can be terminated at any time. In other words, the Village is still within its rights to get this bad apple out of the barrel with little effort. But this is an FOJ. So the rules are different.
So what action has Bertoni taken? Has he suspended the employee? has he begun his own investigation? Has he even questioned Mr. Moody? Please...we all know that the rules don't apply to Bertoni and his gang.
The Fire Starter has reliably learned that the only action taken by Bertoni was to threatened other Street Department employees with termination if they speak of Mr. Moody's criminal dealings.
Of course none of this should come as any surprise to anyone following Endicott politics. Nor is it at all surprising that this has not been reported in the local media.
So what about it? Can WBNG possibly report this? Can Steve Reilly at the Press & Sun Bulletin bring himself to report this? He seems to have no trouble undercutting law enforcement and fire fighters. But what about corrupt village mayors?
We have our doubts.