John Guarini, a Jersey City Housing Department property improvement field representative aged 59 at the time of his sentencing, was convicted in the FBI's Operation Bid Rig III investigation into public corruption in Hudson County, New Jersey. He pleaded guilty on 2008-10-14 to one count of conspiracy to commit extortion under color of official right, admitting to accepting a total of $2,500 in bribes—two payments of $1,000 and one of $500—from an undercover FBI agent posing as a contractor named Alex Suarez, in exchange for approving asphalt paving work on city properties. On 2009-03-13, U.S. District Judge William H. Walls sentenced him to three years of probation, a $5,000 fine, and a $1,000 special assessment in federal court in Newark. The scandal implicated numerous Jersey City and Hoboken officials in a broader pay-to-play scheme involving rigged bids for public works contracts.