Under the conditions of his plea, Bessant would be sentenced to 21 years in prison.
Wayne Bessant TRENTON — A city man who has pleaded guilty to money-laundering charges was refused admittance to a drug court program that could potentially have reduced or eliminated the prison time he faces.
Wayne Bessant, 32, allegedly masterminded a $140,000 money-laundering scheme that involved numerous co-conspirators who exchanged the cash via checks and phony construction jobs. Bessant’s attorney, Troy Archie, applied for him to enter drug court, but Judge Gerald Council denied that motion yesterday, Archie said. He also said that they are still considering whether or not to appeal.
Under the conditions of his plea, Bessant would be sentenced to 21 years in prison. His sentencing is currently scheduled for this September.
Drug court is a program that takes into account whether a person’s addiction to drugs was a factor in the commission of a crime. People who are accepted into the program can qualify for intensive drug rehabilitation in lieu of going to prison.
Along with as many as nine alleged co-conspirators, Bessant used shell corporations to write checks out to James Mucci of Croydon, Pa. and Stephen Parisi of Levittown, Pa. for construction jobs that were never done, prosecutors said previously.
Parisi and Mucci would then allegedly cash the checks and bring the cash back to Bessant’s BNB Housing storefront.
Two of Bessant’s cousins, Trenton residents Darnell Bessant and Breon Christie, allegedly helped keep the scheme going by depositing money in the bank accounts and verifying the checks when the banks called about them, authorities said.
“(Bessant) pleaded guilty to charges stemming from five separate cases involving money laundering, attempted theft by deception, fraudulent use of a credit card, unlawful computer access and wrongful impersonation,”said Casey DeBlasio, a spokeswoman for the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office.
Contact Brendan at (609)989-5731 or at bmcgrath@njtimes.com.
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