A top official overseeing school lunches in New York City’s sprawling public school system took bribes and allowed dangerous chicken products contaminated with shards of metal and plastic to be served to children, a jury concluded on Wednesday.
Eric Goldstein, who oversaw the city’s Office of Food and Nutrition Services, was convicted in a Brooklyn court of conspiracy, extortion, wire fraud, and taking bribes.
Prosecutors said he was bribed with cash and an ownership stake in a food company by the owners of food supply company Somma – Blaine Iler, Michael Turley, Brian Twomey – in exchange for his cooperation facilitating lucrative contracts with the city. The trio of men were convicted of conspiracy, wire fraud, and bribery.
“Eric Goldstein was for sale,” prosecutor Laura Zuckerwise said in her closing statemnets. “And Michael Turley, Blaine Iler and Brian Twomey, they bought him.”
Goldstein could face up to 20 years in prison, according to The New York Post.
The former school official, who previously started a food company of his own alongside Turley, Iler, and Twomey called Range Meats Supply, helped fast-track Somma to get contracts supply nearly 2,000 schools in 2015, leading to a huge spike in demand and millions of dollars of food orders.
“I’m going to buy a lot of f***ing chicken from you guys, let’s do the beef,” Goldstein allegedly told Iler at a 2015 meeting, according to prosecutors.
By September of 2016, people were complaining that Somma chicken contained pieces of wire-like metal and plastic, according to school incident logs shown to jurors.
The chicken caused people to bleed and in one case choke on a bone in a supposedly boneless dish, according to officials.
As complaints mounted, Turley, Iler, and Twomey allegedly offered Goldstein ownership of Range Meats and $66,000. The trio also sent money to Goldstein’s divorce lawyer and took the school official on trips around the world. The group used the code name “Roger Rabbit” to refer to Goldstein, according to law enforcement.
During the trial, prosecutors showed jurors emails between the now-convicted conspirators, and showed photos of one of the tainted drumsticks, which had a bright red liquid oozing out of it.
A lawyer for Goldstein told The New York Times has was “extremely disappointed” and would appeal the verdict.
