Influence Peddling In Municipal Court? Prasad Emails Raise Questions

A Township Councilman appears to have tried to influence a Municipal Court judge – over whom he has reappointment power – to help a local landlord evict tenants from her property, according to emails reviewed by the Franklin Reporter & Advocate.

The councilman, Rajiv Prasad (D-At Large), steered the landlord to Municipal Court Judge Hector Rodriguez in an email sent last year, in his mistaken belief that eviction actions are handled at the local level. Prasad has nominated Rodriguez for both of the terms he has served as one of Franklin’s two municipal court judges.