Bridges gets 5 years probation
TRENTON - Former Ewing Mayor Al Bridges was sentenced to five years probation, four months of home confinement, 200 hours of community service a year and a fine of $5,000 by a federal judge yesterday for possessing crack cocaine.
U.S. District Court Judge Garrett E. Brown Jr. ordered Bridges to submit to drug testing, wear an electronic monitoring device and join Gamblers Anonymous as part of the sentence.
Bridges, 57, only will be allowed to leave his house for work, church or other approved meetings for the next four months. He will be required to perform 200 hours of community service a year for the next five years and pay a $5,000 fine in monthly installments of at least $300. He must stay free of drugs as part of the deal.
Before his sentencing, the former College of New Jersey vice president told the judge he is making every effort to overcome his addiction and put his life back together again.
"I've gone through remorse, regret, disappointment in myself, the range of emotions you go through," Bridges said. "I've reflected hundreds of times, almost every night, on what I've done."
Bridges said he regularly attends Alcoholics Anonymous meetings and hosts such meetings in his living room every Sunday, preferring AA to the Narcotics Anonymous program.
He said he wants to help other people who suffer from addiction, particularly young people.
"I'm taking things one day at a time," he said. "I'm not taking staying clean for granted. I continue to work in the program and attend meetings. I'm sponsoring other people. I can't put the genie back in the bottle, but I can become a productive citizen again."
Bridges, who came to court unaccompanied by family members or former Ewing political allies, apologized for any pain he caused his family or his community. He said he ran away and hid from his friends because he was so embarrassed by what had happened.
Asked about his employment status, Bridges told Brown he has held several temporary jobs. He has been a handyman, done several cleaning jobs and often works for the temporary agency Manpower, he said. "Once the case is closed, I hope to obtain permanent employment," he said.
Bridges' problems became public in the summer of 2002 after former wife Carole Bridges filed for divorce. In her suit, which sent shock waves through the community, she painted Bridges as a crack cocaine addict, abuser and womanizer and said the FBI caught him making a crack cocaine purchase while driving a township car in 2000.
Bridges originally denied the claims but later admitted he had a drug problem, and in February 2004, he pleaded guilty to possessing 0.8 grams of crack cocaine that FBI agents had found on him in 2000.
He could have faced up to a year in jail and a fine of up to $100,000. As part of a plea deal, he promised to cooperate with the government in further investigations and waived his right to an appeal. Any other criminal charges brought from July 1999 to Feb. 10, 2000, were dropped.
In March, Brown admonished Bridges to stay clean or face prison after Bridges failed a drug test.
His federal public defender, Lisa J. Van Hoeck, said yesterday that since the March hearing, Bridges has taken a more active role in his recovery, assisting others who are addicted to drugs, going to therapy and meetings, sponsoring others, holding meetings at his home and "being an inspiration and support to others suffering with addiction."
Brown was given a letter from Ewing resident Robert R. Klein, a retired professor of political science and public policy at Rutgers University, who came to the hearing to show his support for Bridges. An official from TCNJ also attended the sentencing.
Klein said he has seen thousands of public servants over 50 years in public service and Bridges is one of the best public servants he has known.
"It appears Mr. Bridges is taking steps to better his life and change," Brown said. He wished Bridges good luck in doing so.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeffrey S. Chiesa of the U.S. Attorney's Criminal Division in Newark represented the government in the case. He said afterward that the judge took into account several factors, including Bridges' cooperation in other matters of interest to federal authorities and his intention to get his life back on track.
After the hearing, Bridges spoke candidly with reporters outside the courtroom. "I hurt a lot of people, including my former wife," he said. "I let people down."
Five years ago, Bridges said he never would have imagined himself becoming a drug addict. He said he had never even smoked a cigarette at that time.
During the past five years of his "active addiction," he said, he has remained drug free for most of the time, using drugs for a period of 10 months and then relapsing briefly last winter.
"The irony is that for the first 50 years of my life I was dedicated to helping other people," he said, choking up as he spoke. "But my legacy will obviously be something very different now. I just hope to prove to people for the rest of my life that you can change."
Bridges said while he did not want to minimize his drug use, "I was caught with a small amount of cocaine."
"To have this go on for five or six years is incredible," he said. `As an elected official I was held to a higher standard than a normal person would be. In hindsight, I don't think it was that big a deal. It wasn't a very large amount, but I did use and I am not trying to minimize that."
The toughest part, Bridges said, has been seeing his name in the press associated with something so negative.
"I just can't find the words to describe it," he said. "The other part is, I worked with so many youngsters as a role model. I can't let them down. From this point forward I want to show that I can turn my life around. I find a tremendous joy these days working with former addicts, especially young people."
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