TRENTON — Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin and the Office of Public Integrity and Accountability (OPIA) today announced that a Newark code enforcement officer has been arrested and charged after allegedly soliciting bribes from a Newark business in exchange for withholding fines and allowing the business to reopen after she had shut it down.

Sonia Rogers, 50, of Newark, New Jersey, was arrested on Friday, February 28, 2025, by OPIA detectives with assistance from members of the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office. Rogers was charged with the following second-degree offenses: official misconduct, bribery, theft by extortion, and soliciting or accepting any benefit to influence the performance of an official duty.

The charges arise from an investigation by the OPIA Corruption Bureau. Second-degree charges carry a sentence of five to 10 years in state prison and a fine of up to $150,000.

According to the complaint, while working in her official capacity, Rogers ordered the closure of a retail establishment, threatened to fine the owners, and requested bribes of cash and free store merchandise in exchange for reopening the store and not levying the threatened fines.

Specifically, the investigation found that in September 2024, Rogers entered a store on Broad Street in Newark in uniform and, after conducting an inspection, she ordered the business to be closed.

It is alleged that the defendant told store management that the store’s municipal business license had expired, and if she were to allow the store to re-open to the public, she should be compensated with a cash bribe for doing the business a favor. The evidence revealed that Rogers asked for a bribe of $800, telling a store employee to take care of her since, under the city’s code enforcement regulations, the store should remain closed until a fire inspection was completed and the business license was reinstated.

As alleged in the complaint, in exchange for re-opening the store and not imposing any fines, Rogers initially solicited the bribe in cash, but she settled for taking store merchandise without paying.

Additionally, Rogers allegedly indicated she would help facilitate a fire inspection of the premises in exchange for the store compensating her. According to the investigation, Rogers kept returning to the store on multiple subsequent occasions through November 2024, attempting to be further compensated, including unsuccessful attempts to take a television.

“My office will not take it lightly when public employees allegedly abuse the power of their positions for personal gain,” said Attorney General Platkin. “The public must be able to trust that those who serve the public will not look the other way in exchange for bribes.”

“The defendant’s trying to line her own pockets, instead of ensuring public health and safety, as alleged here, damages the public’s trust in government and could put lives at risk,” said Drew Skinner, Executive Director of the Office of Public Integrity and Accountability. “This case shows that corruption is not a victimless crime, and the dedicated, experienced prosecutors and investigators in my office will not back down in fighting it.”

Deputy Attorney General Diana Bibb is prosecuting the case for OPIA, under the supervision of Corruption Bureau Deputy Chief Laura Croce, Bureau Co-Directors Jeff Manis and Eric Gibson, and OPIA Director Skinner.

These charges are merely accusations, and the defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in a court of law.

Defense counsel:
Defendant is not represented at this time

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