N.J. mayor, wife convicted of extortion

GUTTENBERG, N.J., April 30 (UPI) -- A New Jersey mayor and his wife have been found guilty of federal charges of conspiracy to commit extortion and filing false tax returns.

The five-week trial of Mayor David Delle Donna, 50, of Guttenberg and his wife, Anna, 60, included testimony that the couple received money from a bar owner suspected of smuggling underage girls into the country, The New York Times reported Wednesday.

Prosecutors charged the Delle Donnas received $26,700 in cash and gifts from Luisa Medrano, whose Guttenberg bar was raided in 2005 by authorities who found Honduran girls, some as young as 14, working there.

Witnesses in the case against the Delle Donnas included a top aide to Gov. John Corzine whose testimony involved mail fraud charges in which the couple was acquitted.

"We take no joy in the jury's verdict," said U.S. Attorney Christopher J. Christie. "The jury found that the defendants traded on their public positions."

The couple faces four to six years in prison and a $350,000 fine.