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ALBERT PAUL OPACITY

South Bergenite 

February 14, 2001

Pol faked military record, resigns
BY E.J. CHUPAK
Managing Editor

         LYNDHURST    - The alleged political war swarming around the Board of Commissioners appears to have reached a cease-fire.

         Revenue and Finance Commissioner Albert P. Opacity struck an agreement with the Bergen County Prosecutor's
Office on Feb. 8 to resign from office and turn over a host of military paraphernalia that prosecutors and official records
say he did not earn. 

        When Opacity was charged last September with falsifying his DD-214 military document by embellishing service in Vietnam and distinguished honors such as a Bronze Star, Purple Heart and Combat Infantry Badge, he adamantly claimed his innocence.

         Five months later, the maligned commissioner has entered into a pre-indictment plea program that requires immediate resignation, a letter of apology to the Lyndhurst Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) post and relinquishment of his Green Beret uniform and all badges and medals not properly attained.

         According to Assistant Prosecutor Ike Gavzy, the probationary intervention spans six months and is available for nonviolent, first-time offenders with no prior criminal record.

         "A lot of times if the case meets the criteria, we'll offer this program," Gavzy said.  "If the program is satisfactorily completed, all charges are dismissed."
 Opacity and his wife, Ida, claimed last year that the charges resulted from fallingouts with high ranking town officials and a subsequent political conspiracy. 

         Lyndhurst resident and Opacity acquaintance Bob Brack, Sr. - who said he served as a Special Forces Green Beret in Vietnam - said last year that he was certain Opacity was telling the truth.

         Both Opacity's and Brack were unavailable for comment.

         Charges of political malice against Opacity mounted in December after a rocky relationship with township clerk's office employees boiled over and resulted in his being relieved as head of the department.

   Mayor James Guida said last week that while he has no ill feelings toward Opacity, the persistent finger pointing in the direction of his Board of Commissioners is disturbing.
          "There was nothing political here,' Guida said.  'I've said that all along.'

         He added, 'It's a sad day when we lose a commissioner this way.

         I hope he would put his life back together and straighten this situation out." 

         Guida said he will suggest to the Board the open seat not be filled before the municipal election in May.

         When charges were initially brought, Gavzy said opacity did not stand to gain financially from altering his military history. The prosecution's argument was rather that Opacity began a pattern of falsely promoting himself during the 1997 election campaign. Many township residents have expressed outrage that information about an already sore subject like Vietnam would be forged. 

         "This is a case of stolen valor," said Lyndhurst.  Police Chief James O'Connor.  'It blemishes the heroic acts of those who went to Vietnam and gave their lives.

         'It also blemishes their families."

         Gavzy said the matter is over, as far as the Prosecutor's Office is concerned.

         The pre-trial intervention program was deemed sufficient, he added.

         "I think it's pretty obvious what went on here and the investigation is closed, " he sad.

 

 Friday, February 9, 2001
The Record
Bergen County

Friday, February 9, 2001

          By SHANNON D. HARRINGTON
          Staff Writer

                 A Lyndhurst commissioner charged with embellishing his military record agreed Thursday to resign and to turn over a handful of medals and a Green Beret that prosecutors say -- and official records indicate -- he never earned.

                 In return, the felony charge against him will be dropped if he complies with all the stipulations of the agreement, which was reached during a pretrial hearing in Superior Court in Hackensack. 

                 Albert Opacity, who was finishing his first term as a township commissioner, had said he served as a Green Beret in Vietnam, retired as a captain, and received a Purple Heart, a Bronze Star, and several combat awards. 

                 Opacity included these false claims on a form that all veterans must file with the Lyndhurst tax assessor's office to receive a property-tax discount, prosecutors said.

                 Opacity's official records in St. Louis make no mention of service in Vietnam or the Special Forces, known for their green berets. There are no records to indicate that he was awarded a Bronze Star or Purple Heart.

                 And the records say Opacity left the Army as a clerk typist with a rank of specialist fourth class, not as a captain, as he said on the Lyndhurst form.

                 "He didn't even go into the military until after the Vietnam conflict was over," said Bergen County Assistant Prosecutor Ike Gavzy.

                 During the hearing Thursday, Gavzy said Opacity, who was charged with tampering with public records, used his phony military record in his 1997 political campaign. 

                 Judge Joseph Conte said Opacity betrayed fellow veterans in Lyndhurst, and he ordered him to write an apology to the town's Veterans of Foreign Wars post.  

                 "If he held himself out to his fellow servicemen with those honors and that rank and he did not have it, he owes them an apology," Conte said.

                 Opacity stood silently as the conditions of the pretrial intervention agreement were read. He and his attorney, Terence Scott, would not discuss the agreement after the hearing.

                 Although Opacity's actions under the court order indicate an admission that his military claims were a lie, the commissioner was adamant moments before the hearing that the claims were legitimate. 

                 Outside the courtroom, Opacity was with his wife, Ida, and a Lyndhurst friend who served in the Special Forces during the Vietnam War. He insisted that he has told the truth and that the charges against him were politically motivated. 

                 Opacity said he performed special operations in Asia as a member of the Special Forces, although he said he cannot elaborate.

                 "I can't say too much about it now, because it's still not declassified," he said Thursday. 

                 He said he was awarded a Purple Heart after being shot in combat.

                 "I've got two bullet holes in my leg," he said. 

                 And he said his military records do not reflect that service because the operations are still secret. 

                 Opacity blamed his fellow commissioners for the charges against him.

                 After running on the same ticket three years ago with Mayor James Guida, Commissioner Thomas Graffam, and others on the governing body, Opacity had a political falling out with them.

                 Graffam and Guida criticized the way he ran his departments, and they say he mistreated government employees. In December, the commissioners voted to strip Opacity of oversight of the township clerk's and assessor's offices after employees complained of harsh treatment.

                 Gavzy said there was no political influence behind the charge. Guida and Graffam discounted Opacity's theory that they were behind it.

                 "What's politics got to do with the truth?" Graffam said when contacted Thursday. "It's a matter of right and wrong."

                 "Being a veteran myself and losing two friends in Vietnam and having one friend who did receive a Purple Heart -- a guy doing this should offend any veteran."

                 Added Guida: "Nobody wanted to hurt him. I'm sorry he had to resign.

                 But unfortunately he must have felt guilty for something." 

                 Guida said Opacity's seat is not expected to be filled until the municipal election in May.


 
                Staff Writer Shannon D. Harrington's e-mail address is harrington@northjersey.com

 

LETTER TO THE EDITOR
Subject: alfred p. opacity
Date: Sat, 10 Feb 2001 13:51:08 EST
To: letterstotheeditor@northjersey.com

The former Lyndhurst commissioner, Alfred P. Opacity is a disgrace. The man isn't even decent enough to admit he was wrong and made a mistake, and apologize for it. He shows no contrition. He keeps trying to make believe he was something that he clearly was not. It's an insult to all that served with Special Forces, they earned their title with sweat, blood and sacrifice. He's a disgrace to all that served in Vietnam. Phonies don't go over big in the veteran community. The one's I feel sorry for are his wife and children. He ran for office wearing a green beret, what gall ! I feel he got off too easy. He has nothing to back up his claims. Show me an honorable discharge with your rank on it, he can't do it because it's all a lie. The DD214 says it all. If he was a clerk typist in the army, what's wrong with that? He went into the Army when there was no draft, why isn't his service good enough? I'll never understand why guys make these phony claims, they'll all be found out eventually. Didn't he realize that someone would know that in order for him to have earned the Vietnam campaign medal that he'd have had to been in Vietnam by Jan. 28, 1973. He was in the Army 1975-77, who's kidding who?

Kevin O'Neil
1st Marine Division
Vietnam 7/68 - 8/69
Lyndhurst, N.J.

 

Tuesday, September 19, 2000

 
Lyndhurst, New Jersey

Official charged in record altering

By SHANNON D. HARRINGTON
                 Staff Writer

 LYNDHURST -- The Bergen County prosecutor charged the township's  finance commissioner Monday with embellishing his military service record  with honors such as the Purple Heart and Bronze Star.

 Albert P. Opacity, 50, was charged with tampering with public records, a  third-degree offense punishable by up to five years in prison, said  Assistant  Prosecutor Ike Gavzy.

 Investigators say that Opacity altered a military record that he filed in  the  township's tax assessor's office.

 Opacity, who served in the Army from March 1975 to March 1977, claimed  on that record -- called a DD Form 214 -- that he had earned the rank of  captain and that he had been awarded a Bronze Star, a Purple Heart, a
 Republic of Vietnam Campaign Ribbon, and a Combat Infantry Badge,  Gavzy said.

 But investigators say the original certified copy of the form does not list  those honors, and states that Opacity left the Army as a clerk typist with a  rank of specialist fourth class.

 Opacity was required to file the military service form in the township  assessor's office in order to receive a small property tax break. But Gavzy  said Opacity would have qualified for that discount regardless of his  record.

 However, Gavzy said Opacity, a funeral director in Kenilworth, touted his  military service during his election campaign three years ago. Opacity's  term expires next year.

 "The allegation isn't that he was in any way attempting to enhance his  financial situation," Gavzy said. "But his allegedly false military status  was  used in his election campaign."

 Gavzy said the matter will be presented to a Bergen County grand jury.

 Opacity, who was released on his own recognizance, did not return a  phone call to his home Monday.

 His attorney, Terence Scott, said the allegations are false and that they  stem from political opponents in the township, although he would not name  them.

 "It's clearly political motivations," Scott said. "It's a shame the  Prosecutor's  Office is getting involved in this political foray."

 News of the charge disturbed some New Jersey Vietnam War veterans.

 "If it's true, it's really a serious offense," said Bob Maras, past  president of  the New Jersey Council of the Vietnam Veterans of America who now  serves on the group's national board. "It's a slap in the face to every  veteran. You're dishonoring their service. For people to go out there and  portray themselves as something that they're not -- it gets under my skin."

 Maras, of Lakehurst, a combat veteran of the Vietnam War, said he  doubted Opacity would have seen combat after March 1975. South  Vietnam surrendered to North Vietnam on April 30, 1975.

 Lyndhurst Commissioner Thomas Graffam said he wanted to talk with  prosecutors before commenting on the charge.

 "It's very sad for the town if it's true," he said. "We don't need any  scandals,  that's for sure."

 

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