Ex-Smithtown official gets 2 years for taking bribes

Former Smithtown building chief Robert Bonerba was sentenced Thursday morning to 2 years in the county jail for taking bribes from builders during his tenure in the town.

Bonerba, who was pensive but calm while waiting in the hallway outside the Riverhead courtroom, declined to comment. He was accompanied by a friend.

Bonerba was taken directly to jail from the court in handcuffs after the sentencing.

Bonerba, 60, pleaded guilty on April 22 to receiving "several thousand dollars" in 2003 from builders Frank Esposito and Robert Fitzpatrick to expedite paperwork on a Nesconset home they built.

Bonerba also pleaded guilty to taking about $4,000 in carpeting and installation in 2000 for his own home from builder Farouk Kiridly, and for accepting installation of a fireplace at his home in 2000, worth about $1,400, from Fitzpatrick and James Fox, another builder.

Bonerba also pleaded guilty to taking $1,000 in cash in 2004 from Fitzpatrick and Fox in exchange for providing false information in a letter regarding the number of rooms above a Kings Park plumbing business.

Bonerba was suspended by Smithtown in December 2006 for not properly filling out his financial disclosure statements, and retired before a hearing was held on whether he should be fired, preserving his $31,871 annual state pension.

He was charged with 42 counts in May 2008, including 10 counts of taking bribes.

Bonerba is the only public official in Smithtown charged in a three-year investigation into the town by the district attorney's office. Prosecutors have issued numerous subpoenas and seized thousands of pages of documents, mostly from the building and planning departments.