BY JAMES A. QUIRK
MARLBORO ? Anthony Spalliero, already facing federal charges that he bribed a former mayor here, has been identified by sources as one of two developers who bribed a longtime Planning Board member.
On Monday, Stanley Young, who served on the board for 25 years starting in 1976 and ? with some interruption ? ending with his resignation in March, pleaded guilty in federal court to taking $27,700 in bribes from two developers, but he did not name them.
Sources said Young was paid by Spalliero and another, unidentified developer to help rezone numerous parcels for housing developments.
Young, 71, told U.S. District Judge Anne E. Thompson that one payment of $20,000 was to be passed to others on the nine-member board.
Spalliero, 62, was arrested in May and charged with paying bribes to two elected officials ? former Mayor Matthew V. Scannapieco and the late Harry Larrison Jr., former Monmouth County freeholder director.
In April, Scannapieco pleaded guilty to taking $245,000 from a developer later identified as Spalliero.
Young admitted Monday that in 2001, he accepted $1,000 from a developer as a reward for approving his projects. He said he also took $1,200 from a second developer that year as a "bonus" for recommending a zone change that would benefit the builder.
The money continued to roll in the next year. Young said he took $1,500 from the first developer as his usual reward and $2,000 from the other. That year, he also accepted the $20,000 from the second developer that was meant to be parceled out to other board members. Sources said the $20,000 came from Spalliero.
Finally, Young admitted to taking $2,000 in cash from the second developer in 2003 for continued support for his applications. Sources also said that developer was Spalliero.
Former Planning Board member Elio DiCosmo, who served with Young in 2002, bristled when asked if he was ever offered money to vote for projects that came before the board.
He said he knew of no such deals being made to board members and was saddened to hear of Young's guilty plea.
"Everything I did on the Planning Board, I did for the best of Marlboro, not to make money," DiCosmo said. "I will never have anything to do with anything of that nature. I have too much to lose. I'm bringing my kids up the right way ? what good is it if I don't do the right things?"