A Toms River man will serve five years in state prison for theft of more than $1 million in parking revenue from Hoboken.

Brian A. Petaccio, 52, served as a contractor whose company was hired by the City of Hoboken to collect coins from city parking meters.

As the owner of United Textile Fabricators LLC, Petaccio was hired by Hoboken to collect coins from its parking meters. He pleaded guilty on Sept. 30, 2009 to an accusation charging him with second-degree theft by unlawful taking for stealing approximately $1.175 million in coins from Hoboken’s parking meters between June 2005 and April 2008.  

After an audit in 2007 uncovered parking revenue shortfalls, Petaccio and his company returned approximately $575,000 to the city.  However, Petaccio admitted, in pleading guilty, that he diverted an additional $600,000 that was not reported to the city.

Petaccio was sentenced to five years in state prison by Superior Court Judge Francis R. Hodgson Jr. in Ocean County today.

Former Hoboken Parking Utility Director John Corea pleaded guilty in 2011 to official misconduct for his role in the theft of $600,000 from parking meters, according to the state Attorney General's office.

Corea was sentenced April 2. He will serve seven years in state prison, including three years of parole ineligibility, by Judge Hodgson.  

"Corea pleaded guilty to second-degree official misconduct, admitting that he became aware that Petaccio and United Textile had stolen a large amount of the city’s parking revenues, but did not take any steps to stop the thefts or notify the city," according to a statement released today by the attorney general's office. "Corea also admitted that he steered three separate no-bid contracts to United Textile to collect, count and manage the coins from the city’s parking meters, and made false statements to the city council about the qualifications and experience of the company, which is a coin-operated arcade game manufacturer."

After an audit in 2007 uncovered parking revenue shortfalls, Petaccio and his company returned approximately $575,000 to the city, according to the attorney general. Petaccio admitted during his guilty plea that he diverted an additional $600,000 that was not reported to the city.