As Richard Brega kept the county's buses rolling through his Valley Cottage-based conglomerate, the 50-year-old bus magnate also tried becoming a political player by donating generously to political campaigns, according to documents.

A grand jury indictment announced Monday accused Brega of crossing the legal line, using 10 "straw donors" to stealthily contribute to the 2013 county executive campaign of Legislator Ilan Schoenberger.

Schoenberger, a Ramapo Democrat and longtime attorney, has not been accused of wrongdoing and says he didn't know about Brega's alleged contributions.

Brega was charged with falsifying business records in connection with funneling thousands of dollars in campaign donations through his family, friends and employees, Rockland District Attorney Thomas Zugibe said in a news release.

Brega pleaded not guilty to 10 counts of first-degree falsifying business records before Judge David Zuckerman in County Court in New City. His attorney, Kerry Lawrence, a former federal prosecutor, entered the plea.

Brega is accused of providing the "straw donors" with thousands of dollars to donate to the "Friends of Ilan Schoenberger" between April and August 2013, Zugibe said. The individuals included employees of Brega Transportation, as well as his friends and family.

A Journal News review in 2013 indicated Schoenberger received about $48,000 in donations allegedly through Brega employees and associates. The highest contribution for a single individual was $9,221.

Before Monday's indictment, Brega already faced federal bribery charges accusing him of falsifying documents to show his company, Brega D.O.T. Maintenance Corp., had repaired Rockland BOCES school buses when no work actually was done.

Brega also is accused of bribing former BOCES Transportation Director William Popkave, who has pleaded guilty to federal charges, according to the five-count indictment and U.S. Attorney's Office news release with the Rockland District Attorney's Office. Brega has pleaded not guilty to the federal charges.

Schoenberg said Monday that he was unaware of Brega's alleged actions. He said his campaign followed the law and his campaign filed all donations.

"In every political campaign, there are people who support various candidates for various reasons," Schoenberger said. "I had a number of people who supported me and contributed to my campaign. Every time I got a campaign contribution, I handled it appropriately, I made sure it ended up in the bank and I reported the donation as requited by law.

"I have done nothing wrong," he said.

The new charges unsealed Monday by Zuckerman accuse Brega with filing false documents with the New York State Board of Elections regarding the donations, Executive Assistant District Attorney Richard Kennison Moran said.

Brega faces a maximum of four years in prison if convicted of the felony charges.

Brega Indictment

DA news release

"Hiding the true source of campaign donations from election officials and the public fundamentally impacts the transparency of our democratic system of governance," Zugibe said. “Working closely with the Public Corruption Task Force, my office will continue to uncover illicit schemes that evade campaign finance laws and prosecute those who seek to facilitate illegal political contributions.”

After declining comment Monday as he entered the county courthouse, he asked a Journal News photographer to take a photo of him smiling, as opposed to previous photos of him walking with his head down.

His attorney, Kerry Lawrence, said: "Just as we defend Mr. Brega's case in White Plains, we look forward to establishing his innocence here in Rockland County."

Zuckerman released Brega without bail Monday. His next court appearances are set for Aug. 8 and Sept. 19. No trial date has been set in the federal case in White Plains.

The arrest is the culmination of a joint investigation by the District Attorney’s Office Public Corruption Task Force and the New York State Board of Elections Division of Election Law Enforcement.

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Brega Transport Corp. has operated the county’s Transport of Rockland, known as TOR, and Tappan ZEExpress bus lines, with a fleet of 60 buses, since 2013 after being awarded the five-year, $70 million contract in late 2011 by the Rockland Legislature.

In a hard-fought battle for the contract, Brega took over after providing a lower bid than the Rockland Transit Corp., a subsidiary of Coach USA, which had held the contract since 1976.

Then-Rockland County Executive C. Scott Vanderhoef, a Republican, opposed giving the bus contract to Brega, who had never run a bus system, and the contract went through a court battle before Brega officially took it over.

Donations cross party lines

Brega has been a generous contributor to political campaigns under his name and his companies.

At the time of the contributions, Schoenberger was embroiled in a 2013 Democratic Party primary for county executive, which he lost to David Fried, a former legislator and now a Spring Valley justice.

Then-Legislator Ed Day, a Republican serving his first four-year term as county executive, got close to $12,000 in donations from Brega, while former Legislator Frank Sparaco, R-Valley Cottage, got more than $800. Sparaco's wife worked for Brega.

Brega and his wife Lucinda each contributed $2,600 to Republican Chris Day's campaign for Congress. Day, the son of the county executive, lost to Rep. Nita Lowey, D-Harrison.

Ed Day has said the contributions to his campaign didn't influence him. He noted he vetoed a 2014 Legislature spending initiative of $3.6 million over four years for washing Brega's buses daily, faulting Brega Transport Corp. for missed trips, lost fares, inadequate maintenance and incomplete record-keeping.

"You can contribute to me but that doesn't mean you own me," he has said.

Brega’s RTB Industries also paid Clarkstown's Democratic Supervisor Alexander Gromack $10,000 between February 2012 and March 2013 for referring customers to Brega’s maintenance business.

Gromack originally didn’t report the income from Brega on his county Board of Ethics filings, which were subpoenaed in 2015 by the U.S. Attorney’s Office. Gromack amended his filings a day after The Journal News reported he failed to report his financial ties to Brega.

Gromack's original filings did state his wife Joan worked part-time for RTB doing marketing and office work.Their daughter also worked part-time for RTB during her college vacations.

As a result of the federal indictment, company officials said Brega gave up ownership of his transportation and repair companies to his brother Jason.

The federal government banned Richard Brega and the companies bearing his name from future contracts with entities that receive federal funds, such as county government.

Rockland County, in response, is seeking to remove Brega as the operator of TOR and TappanZee Express.

However, the federal government lifted the suspension in May, allowing Brega's former companies to continue running the county's bus services for an estimated 10,000 riders.

Twitter: @lohudlegal