Former Newark Code Enforcement Officer Pleads Guilty
| Attorney General Jennifer Davenport and the Office of Public Integrity and Accountability (OPIA) today announced that a Newark code enforcement officer has pleaded guilty after she closed a store over alleged code violations, then sought a bribe in order to allow the business to reopen and avoid fines.
Sonia Rogers, 51, of Newark, New Jersey, pleaded guilty on June 26, 2026 to one count of conspiracy to commit bribery (3rd degree) during a hearing before Judge Naazneen B. Khan, presiding in New Jersey Superior Court in Essex County. In accordance with the defendant’s plea agreement with OPIA, Rogers will forfeit all public employment and be permanently disqualified from public office or government employment in New Jersey. OPIA will recommend she be sentenced to a period of probation to be decided by the court, with the condition that the defendant serve up to 364 days in county jail. “It is deeply damaging to our communities when public officials prey upon business owners and members of their community in this way, instead of being fair, doing their jobs, and doing what’s right,” said Attorney General Davenport. “My office will continue to work diligently to root out public corruption and ensure that those in positions of public trust do their jobs with the utmost integrity.” Rogers was charged by complaint-warrant and arrested by OPIA detectives in February 2025 following a months-long investigation. She was then indicted by a state grand jury on August 19, 2025. As alleged, the investigation revealed that in September 2024, Rogers entered a Newark-based store in uniform and, after conducting an inspection, ordered the business closed. The defendant advised store management that their municipal business license had expired, and if she were to allow the store to reopen to the public, she should be compensated with a cash bribe for doing the business a favor. Under the city’s code enforcement regulations, the store should have remained closed until a fire inspection was completed and the business license was reinstated. As she admitted, in exchange for re-opening the store and not imposing any fines, Rogers initially solicited the bribe in cash, but she settled for taking store merchandise without paying. Sentencing is scheduled for August 14, 2026. The case was prosecuted for the OPIA Corruption Bureau by Deputy Attorneys General Robert J. Serrano and Samantha Eaton. The investigation was led by detectives from the OPIA Corruption Bureau. Defense attorney: Brian Egan, Office of the Public Defender |
