NEWARK, N.J. – An Essex County, New Jersey, man today admitted obstructing justice while on pre-trial release, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger announced.
Robert Alexander, 45, of Newark, pleaded guilty by videoconference before U.S. District Judge Brian Martinotti to a superseding indictment charging him with obstructing justice while on pre-trial release.
According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:
On Jan.14, 2019, Alexander pleaded guilty to an information charging him with one count of making a false statement on a loan application in a criminal case that was pending before Chief U.S. District Judge Freda L. Wolfson. On Sept. 4, 2019, Judge Wolfson sentenced Alexander to 46 months in prison.
On Oct. 8, 2019 – the day before Alexander was scheduled to voluntarily surrender to the Bureau of Prisons to begin serving his sentence – he caused a forged medical note to be submitted to Judge Wolfson in support of a request to delay the date of his voluntary surrender. The forged medical note contained falsified information and was submitted with the specific intent to influence and impede Judge Wolfson in the discharge of her duties as the judge presiding over his case. At the time of the offense, Alexander was on pre-trial release.
The obstruction of justice count carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. The commission of the offense while on pre-trial release carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison; any term of imprisonment imposed for committing the offense while on pre-trial release must be consecutive to the term imposed on the obstruction of justice charge. Sentencing is scheduled for July 27, 2022.
U.S. Attorney Sellinger credited postal inspectors of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service in Newark, under the direction of Inspector in Charge Damon Wood, Philadelphia Division, with the investigation leading to today’s guilty plea.
The government is represented by U.S. Attorneys Catherine R. Murphy, Chief of the Economic Crimes Unit, and Ryan L. O’Neill of the U.S. Attorney’s Office Health Care Fraud Unit.