Vendor admits paying NJ Transit employee bribes

Federal prosecutors say a vendor has admitted paying bribes to a New Jersey Transit employee to obtain landscaping contracts.

Raymond Rapuano, of New Providence, pleaded guilty Wednesday to bribery. The 47-year-old Rapuano now faces up to 10 years in prison when he’s sentenced March 18.

Prosecutors say that prior to March 2012, Rapuano paid $3,500 in bribes to an NJ Transit employee so the firm he worked for could get landscaping contracts.

Around April 2012, prosecutors say Rapuano agreed to give NJ Transit employees 13 percent of the value of any work the agency awarded to the firm. They say he paid an NJ Transit employee $2,000 for $22,000 worth of work awarded to the firm.