FREEHOLD — They claimed they paid thousands of dollars in bribes to get jobs with the Middlesex County Sheriff's Department.

But prospective witnesses against former Sheriff Joseph Spicuzzo were told they would not be prosecuted if they cooperated with the State Police, investigators testified today.

"I view them as victims," State Police Capt. Thomas Goletz said during a pretrial hearing in Superior Court in Freehold, where Spicuzzo is facing charges he accepted bribes of $10,000 to $25,000 in exchange for jobs and promotions in his department.

Goletz said the investigation began in September 2010, after he received anonymous phone calls about the alleged jobs-for-cash scheme. State Criminal Justice Director Stephen Taylor instructed him to offer witnesses protection from prosecution if they agreed to cooperate, he said.

"In all my years of investigation, this was a unique opportunity," Goletz said, adding it was the first time in his 13 years of investigating corruption that he made such promises.

Defense attorneys requested the hearing before Superior Court Judge Anthony Mellaci after recently learning of the protection promises. The attorneys contend that if prosecutors willfully withheld the information, the charges should be dismissed.

Goletz and two other State Police detectives admitted making the promises to investigators in the sheriff’s department, but said they never mentioned the offers in any reports.

"It was just a dumb mistake on my part," Goletz said of not reporting the offers. He was responding to a lengthy cross examination from Spicuzzo’s attorney, Steven Altman.

Goletz said he disclosed the promises to Deputy Attorney General Vincent Militello about two months ago.

Militello, in a hearing earlier this year, said no promises had been made to people who paid bribes.

Spicuzzo served 30 years as sheriff, retiring in December 2010. He was also the longtime chairman of the Middlesex County Democratic Committee. Two other sheriff’s officers, Darrin DeBiasi and Paul Lucarelli, are also on trial, accused of funneling bribes from people to Spicuzzo.

Goletz said some sheriff’s department investigators agreed to cooperate. The investigators asked what would happen to their careers and were told that they could be dismissed from the sheriff’s department at any time, he said.

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In one instance, Goletz said, he discovered a bribe for a sheriff’s investigator was paid by an uncle, who was a municipal police officer.

Detective Sgt. First Class Gary Duffy testified yesterday that he delivered subpoenas to investigators to testify before a grand jury. Duffy said he gave a subpoena to a former investigator who is now an officer with a municipal police department and concerned about his job and pension. Duffy said he told him that he had no control over those issues.

In other disclosures, lawyers said a female sheriff’s officer acted as an informant for the state and recorded hours of comments from Spicuzzo.

Militello said that woman may testify to seeing stacks of $100 bills in Spicuzzo’s safe-deposit boxes.

Additional State Police are expected to testify when the hearing continues Thursday. Sheriff’s officers who paid the bribes are also expected to testify before the end of the hearing. In the indictment against Spicuzzo, Lucarelli and DeBiasi, those other officers were mentioned by initials only, and were identified as unindicted co-conspirators.

A jury has already be selected and the trial is to begin next week, but Mellaci said it may be delayed by this hearing. The case was transferred out of Middlesex County because of Spicuzzo’s long history there.

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Related coverage:

• Corruption trial of former Middlesex County Sheriff Joseph Spicuzzo to begin

• Former Middlesex County sheriff rejects plea bargain in bribery and misconduct case

• Former Middlesex County Sheriff Joseph Spicuzzo is accused of selling jobs, promotions

• More Middlesex County news