Jury deliberations in Milan trial enter fifth day

By FRANK KUMMER
Courier-Post Staff
CAMDEN

Jurors will return this morning for a fifth day deliberating 19 corruption charges against Camden Mayor Milton Milan.

The eight women and four men of the jury met Monday and requested, among other items, testimony transcripts of convicted drug kingpin Jose ``JR'' Rivera and former Milan business partner Gholam H. Darakhshan.

Since they began deliberating last Wednesday afternoon, jurors have reviewed testimony transcripts of almost every major government witness to take the stand against Milan during the seven-week trial.

The requests provide a rough outline of which counts the jurors are considering and indicate where they may be in deliberations.

On Monday, jurors began by requesting statements by former municipal prosecutor Joseph S. Caruso and former assistant city business administrator James Reynolds.

Reynolds testified on several matters, including Milan's alleged involvement in a mob-backed plan to privatize municipal court fee collections. That represents part of the indictment's ninth count.

Milan is accused of conspiring with Caruso to solicit a bribe from municipal defender Eliott Stomel in exchange for Stomel's reappointment in 1997 to a $30,000-a-year part- time post.

The mayor also is charged with attempted extortion in the deal.

The two charges represent counts 10 and 11 of the indictment.

Caruso testified that Milan directed him to obtain the political donation from Stomel. At the time, Caruso was a Milan fund-raiser and a member of the newly elected mayor's transition team as well as the city's municipal prosecutor.

Caruso pleaded guilty in January to violating the federal travel act in connection with soliciting the contribution. He awaits sentencing.

Much of the testimony regarding counts 12 to 14 already has been requested since it overlaps with that of other witnesses.

Rivera and Darakhshan represent the last five counts - three money-laundering and two mail fraud-related charges.

Milan is accused of taking a $65,000 loan from Rivera in 1994 that he knew came from drug profits. Milan and Darakhshan are accused of breaking the cash down into amounts of less than $10,000 to avoid IRS detection.

Milan also is accused of staging a burglary with Darakhshan at the offices of their business, Atlas Contracting, in 1995 as part of an insurance scam.

Milan and Darakhshan falsely reported to police that two computers, two printers and a copier machine had been stolen, prosecutors say. An insurer issued a partial payment of $4,743.

Milan kept one of the computers for himself until selling it in August 1997 to one of his interns for about $1,500 - about $1,000 more than its normal resale value.