Ex-Spring Valley mayor gets 4-year sentence

Former Spring Valley Mayor Noramie Jasmin was sentenced to four years in federal prison and fined $20,000 Friday for her role in a scheme involving a proposed community center in the Rockland village.

"Imprisonment is absolutely necessary given your enthusiastic participation in this corrupt activity," U.S. District Court Judge Colleen McMahon told Jasmin,

But the judge also said that she took a dim view of government stings like that one that captured Jasmim plotting with Monsey developer Moses "Mark" Stern over her vote and share of the profits from a catering hall in the planned community center.

Stern was a government informant working for the FBI. He had been charged with stealing more than $100 million from Citigroup. He pleaded guilty in March to a sealed federal charge and is awaiting sentencing.

Stern told Jasmin that he wanted to construct a $12 million, three-story building on the 30-foot deep ditch in front of the Spring Valley municipal complex on Route 45.

The plot also ensnared former Spring Valley Deputy Mayor Joseph Desmaret, 57, who took a $10,800 bribe involving the same project. He was sentenced to three years in prison in June.

McMahon told Jasmin that she listened to wiretaps of her plotting with Stern and found the her behavior  "depressing."

"Spring Valley is a deeply troubled town. The people of Spring Valley put their trust in you," McMahon said, noting the community's history of dysfunction. "You did a lot of good things in Spring Valley. That doesn't you entitle you to do this."

Still, McMahon called the recommended sentencing guidelines that could have sent Jasmin to prison for 10 years "wildly excessive."

Jasmin, 51, declined  to address the court before being sentenced. She said nothing as she left the court house in White Plains.

"It's a sad day," her lawyer,  Benjamin Ostrer, said as he left with her.

Jasmin was convicted in April of mail fraud and extortion. She sold her vote on the Board of Trustees for $5,000 and a co-ownership in a community center proposed by Stern.

The mayor demanded money for voting in favor of the proposal and wanted a cut of the profits generated by the center.

Prosecutors had called Jasmin's crimes "egregious," arguing that Jasmin not only demanded bribes but wanted to be paid for naming the shell company, using a relative's name and Social Security number. She also coached Stern and two phony FBI competitors on how to act and answer questions before the Board of Trustees.

Ostrer had urged the judge to sentence Jasmin to home confinement, noting her years of community service and struggles as a Haitian immigrant.

McMahon said she had gotten numerous letters from Spring Valley residents and other who know Jasmin attesting to her good work.

Jasmin was a role model for many, especially young women, the judge said, but she set a terrible example.

"You should go to jail, you will go to jail," McMahon told the former mayor. "I don't think you understand the magnitude of what you did wrong."

McMahon said she based the fine on the $5,000 bribe and the $15,000  as part of the salary Jasmin earned while mayor during the period she was plotting with Stern. She noted that Jasmin has little or no money left.

The judge ordered Jasmin to surrender Nov. 2 to begin her prison term at a yet-to-be-determined federal facility
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