News Briefs: ​Bill Tampering for Bribes Earns Utility Worker Five Years in Prison

A man from Toms River, New Jersey, was sentenced to five years in prison for scheming to reduce water and sewer bills for customers in exchange for bribes. Joseph DeBonis, 56, was a senior account clerk for New Brunswick Water Department. He sometimes operated with an accomplice, William Ortiz, who would ask for bribes from customers and arrange for DeBonis to reduce the bills if they paid. Patch.com reports the schemes would sometimes reduce the bills by as much as 90%. Bills were reduced to roughly 50 properties over a few years and the bribes the men took totaled around