Tribune Broadcasting’s New York flagship station, WPIX-TV (PIX11) in New Jersey, recently published a news report about the Bergen County Prosecutor’s office auctioning off memorabilia seized in 2007 – memorabilia that Prosecutor John Molinelli was warned included fake autographs. The report claims that a prior report revealed that the prosecutor’s office made false statements in an official document in order to get a no bid contract for their “handpicked” memorabilia authenticator. Purportedly, these news stories lead to refunds being offered to the buyers. One of the buyers subsequently filed a criminal complaint against the prosecutor which went to the Bergen County Policeand then to the New Jersey Attorney General’s Division of Criminal Justice; the AG’s office then sent a letter to people who’d complained and it said that their information “was received and reviewed…The matter is now closed.”
The Bergen County Prosecutor’s office, in it’s memo to the county, claimed that PSA/DNA wished to auction the seized items, but per Joe Orlando, President of PSA/DNA, the company doesn’t have an auction arm.
Orlando stated, “So this is not a matter of opinion. This is not a matter of misunderstanding. These things were simply made up…No one has made an attempt to reach out as far as I know. I mean I’ve received no messages, no emails. Nothing.”
Bill Brennan, who filed the criminal complaint, said, “They didn’t investigate anything. They took the information, they called nobody. They investigated nothing. They discussed nothing. They verified nothing…Each and every person involved in this is demonstrating a complete absence of ethics and integrity.”
The full article and video can be found at www.PIX11.com (see “NJ’s Attorney General closes case of fraudulent memorabilia”):
Jason DeBord