Ex building inspector arraigned

Robert Bonerba, the former chief building inspector for the Town of Smithtown was arraigned today on 42 counts including bribe receiving, falsifying business records, official misconduct and conspiracy. He pleaded not guilty.

Suffolk County said Judge Martin Elfman asked the former inspector to surrender his passport and then set bail at $25,000.

Bonerba faces 20 years in prison.

From the county’s announcement:

District Attorney Thomas Spota said Bonerba, who worked as the Smithtown Chief Building Inspector from 1988 until 2007, has given investigators two lengthy written confessions.  “This investigation began two years ago and is broadening,” Spota said.  “The indictment unsealed this morning outlines a pattern of bribery and favor seeking in the Smithtown town building department, including the payment of cash bribes by developers to expedite inspections and to improperly receive certificates of occupancy and other building department approvals.”

Bonerba, 58, faces more than 20 years in prison if convicted of the charges.  The top counts in the indictment, first degree coercion (one count) and third degree bribe receiving (10 counts), are class “D” felonies punishable by a maximum prison sentence of 2 and one-third to 7 years.  The other crimes alleged are ten counts of official misconduct, seven counts of falsifying business records in the first degree, seven counts of offering a false instrument for filing in the first degree, three counts of issuing a false certificate, two charges of obstructing governmental administration in the second degree, and one count each of fifth degree conspiracy, receiving unlawful gratuities, and first degree coercion.