FBI Task Force Officer Arrested and Charged with Mail Fraud

Michael Palermo, 50, a 16 year veteran of the New York and New Jersey Port Authority Police Department (PAPD) and an 11 year FBI task force officer investigating violent crimes was arrested on charges of mail fraud. According to the FBI, Palermo had received a number of personal services from a cooperating witness that he worked with as part of his task force career. Allegedly, Palermo received from the cooperating witness favorable prices on high end automobiles, free automobile work, and favorable prices on landscaping services. These transactions are strictly prohibited by the FBI, DOJ, and PAPD.

According to the criminal complaint, in a civil suit initiated by Palermo against the builder of his house, Palermo produced a false $10,000 check as evidence of damages incurred as a result of building defects. The services that the check were supposed to be paying for were allegedly performed free of charge by the same cooperating witness.

On Tuesday Palermo had his first appearance before judge Mark Falk, a United States Magistrate Judge in Newark, NJ. Palermo faces a possible sentence of 20 years in prison plus fines. The responsible officers in the case are Weysan Dun, FBI special agent in charge of the Newark Field Office, Michael Fedorko, superintendent of the PAPD, and James Tomlinson, special agent in charge of the Department of Justice Office of the Inspector General.