Hudson County has fired Frank Alonso, its acting superintendent of Weights and Measures, for misdirecting fines and registration fees paid by local businesses to a private account, the New Jersey Globe has confirmed.
The Hudson County Prosecutor has launched an investigation into Alonso, a minor political player.
Businesses fined for having inaccurate scales were writing checks payable to Hudson County Weights and Measures LLC, an account controlled by Alonso. It’s not clear how much Alonso may have allegedly embezzled or laundered, but he told the county commissioners last year that annual revenues for registrations were between $200,000 and $250,000, according to a Hudson County View report.
Later, it was reported that a trust account had a balance of $718,500.
The county began looking into Alonso last year after learning that Alonso had stuck a Las Vegas hotel with tens of thousands of dollars in unpaid bills when he attended a National Conference of Weights and Measures meeting there last year. Caesars has complained that Alonso bounced checks from his private account and then gave them bad credit cards. It’s not immediately clear if Caesars will file a criminal complaint against Alonso.
In October, Hudson County moved the weights and measures department from the sheriff’s office to the law department. That followed the defeat of longtime Sheriff Francis X. Schillari in the Democratic primary and Schillari’s switch to the Republican Party.
A former Union City GOP municipal chairman, Alonso sought the Democratic nomination for State Assembly in 2025 on a ticket with Schillari and former North Bergen school board member Tony Hector. Alonso, whose campaign website identified him as a “government ethics watchdog,” lost in a landslide to Democrats backed by Union City Mayor/State Sen. Brian P. Stack: Gabriel Rodriguez (D-West New York) and Larry Wainstein (D-North Bergen).
Following his termination yesterday, officials found three guns in Alonso’s desk.
The firing is not official until Alonso has gone through a civil service process to remove him from office.
Hudson County Executive Craig Guy said he authorized the immediate suspension of Alonso without pay due to allegations of alarming irregularities regarding his duties and responsibilities.
“Since day one as County Executive, I have been committed to increased transparency and accountability in Hudson County government,” said Guy. “This matter has been referred to the Hudson County Prosecutor’s Office, and there will be no further comment at this time.”
