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TRENTON
– A local administrator of the New Jersey
Home Energy Assistance (HEA) Program was indicted
today with her three sisters, her brother
and her sister-in-law on charges they stole
$24,086 from the state program.
In
a related case, the owner of a Paulsboro-based
heating oil company pleaded guilty last week
to defrauding the HEA Program of $400,000
by offering low-income beneficiaries of the
program cash for their state-issued assistance
checks instead of fuel to heat their homes.
The charges in both cases stem from investigations
by the Division of Criminal Justice Corruption
Bureau, conducted with assistance from the
New Jersey Department of Community Affairs.
According
to Criminal Justice Director Deborah L. Gramiccioni,
Constance Campbell, 23, of Chester, Pa., was
indicted today on charges she used her position
as an HEA manager for Tri-County Community
Action to process false HEA applications for
herself and five family members. Tri-Community
Action is a nonprofit contracted by the state
to administer the HEA program in Cumberland,
Gloucester and Salem counties.
Family
members allegedly received a total of $24,086
in benefits for which they were not eligible,
including $15,012 in HEA checks intended for
heating oil purchases. They allegedly traded
the checks for cash from the local fuel supplier
who pleaded guilty last week.
That
supplier, Thomas J. Harris, 66, of Woolwich,
owner and sole proprietor of Harris Fuel Oil,
purchased state assistance checks from numerous
beneficiaries of the HEA Program. He pleaded
guilty on Aug. 10 before Superior Court Judge
M. Christine Allen-Jackson in Gloucester County
to second-degree charges of financial facilitation
of criminal activity (money laundering) and
misapplication of entrusted property and property
of government.
“This
supplier’s conduct was outrageous,”
said First Assistant Attorney General Ricardo
Solano. “He tempted low-income residents
with instant cash, exploiting their financial
condition as well as the government program
set up to help them heat their homes. When
oil costs soared, so did his business, to
the point where he misappropriated $400,000
in state funds in just 17 months.”
“Today’s
indictment charges that a manager for the
HEA Program in Salem and Gloucester counties
abused her position of trust so she and her
family could illegally profit,” Solano
added. “We will not tolerate fraud against
public assistance programs.”
The
HEA Program is administered by the New Jersey
Department of Community Affairs and local
agencies contracted by DCA. The New Jersey
HEA Program encompasses two separate programs,
the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program
(LIHEAP) and Universal Service Fund Program
(USF). The LIHEAP program provides direct
financial assistance to beneficiaries in the
form of payments to utility companies and
to fuel vendors to help low-income households
meet the cost of home heating and medically
necessary cooling. The USF program assists
such households by providing credits against
their natural gas and electric bills. The
Harris plea involved the LIHEAP program. The
Campbell indictment involves both programs.
“Those
who think they can cheat government assistance
programs will find themselves facing charges
like these defendants.” said Director
Gramiccioni. “We will work with the
government agencies involved to uncover and
aggressively prosecute anyone who defrauds
these programs. Our investigation into misuse
of HEA funding is continuing.”
Constance
Campbell was indicted with her three sisters
– Denise Campbell, 35, of Penns Grove,
Patsy Campbell, 29, of Chester, Pa., and Priscilla
Campbell, 21, of Paulsboro – her brother,
Dennis Campbell, 37, and his wife, Hollyann
Allen, also 37, both of Philadelphia, Pa.
Constance
Campbell was an office manager/HEA manager
for Tri-County’s Salem County and Gloucester
County offices. Her duties included processing
HEA benefit applications.
Between
January 2007 and June 2009, Constance Campbell
allegedly created fraudulent accounts for
herself and each of the indicted family members,
none of whom were eligible for benefits. Four,
including Constance, didn’t even reside
in New Jersey. Some used the family member’s
name on the account, but others used the name
of another person or a fictitious name to
hide the beneficiary’s true identity.
Certain applications also deliberately understated
household income or included additional fictitious
dependents in order to increase the amount
of benefits paid out on the application.
Where
a false name was used, the family member’s
name would be listed on the account as the
authorized representative of the household,
so checks would be payable to the family member.
The four defendants who did not reside in
New Jersey allegedly used the address of a
New Jersey resident family member or Post
Office boxes in New Jersey to receive the
benefit checks. The sisters who did live in
New Jersey, Denise and Priscilla, allegedly
received USF benefits in the form of credits
to their utility accounts, in addition to
LIHEAP checks.
All
of the defendants were charged in the indictment
with misapplication of entrusted property
and property of government (3rd degree) and
financial facilitation of criminal activity
(money laundering) (3rd degree). In addition,
Constance, Patsy and Dennis Campbell and Hollyann
Allen were charged with official misconduct
(2nd degree), theft by deception (3rd degree),
tampering with public records or information
(3rd degree), and falsifying records (4th
degree).
All
of the indicted defendants allegedly used
Harris to obtain cash for HEA fuel oil checks
issued during this past heating season.
Under
Harris’ plea agreement, the state will
recommend that he be sentenced to four years
in state prison on each of the two charges,
with the sentences to be served concurrently.
He must also pay full restitution of approximately
$152,000, and he is barred for life –
along with any business in which he owns more
than a 5 percent interest – from doing
business with the state. Judge Allen-Jackson
scheduled sentencing for Harris for Nov. 20.
In
pleading guilty, Harris, admitted that he
paid HEA beneficiaries for their program checks
without delivering any fuel oil. Harris admitted
that he would pay the HEA beneficiary a sum
less than the amount of the state check, either
by cash or company check, and keep the difference,
depositing the HEA check into a company bank
account.
Under
the LIHEAP program, beneficiaries who pay
heating costs to a fuel oil supplier receive
energy assistance in the form of two-party
checks payable to the head of the household
and their fuel oil supplier, identified only
as “Your Heating Supplier.” These
checks are marked with specific instructions
to the bank that they are only for deposit
by the heating oil supplier.
Harris
Oil was a participating energy supplier in
the LIHEAP program, providing fuel oil in
Gloucester County, but Harris would purchase
benefit checks from beneficiaries who were
not regular customers of his company.
Investigators
learned that word had spread among HEA beneficiaries
that Harris was engaging in the business of
paying for HEA benefit checks. These transactions
were generally conducted by Harris while parked
in one of his business vehicles outside his
office on West Broad Street in Paulsboro.
Although the investigation by the Division
of Criminal Justice Corruption Bureau revealed
that Harris has been involved in this fraud
for the past five or six heating seasons,
the money involved grew substantially with
the dramatic increase in the size of the HEA
checks issued in the past season.
Investigators
identified 259 specific transactions between
January 2008 and May 2009 where Harris deposited
an HEA benefit check and wrote out a contemporaneous
check to the HEA beneficiary. From these 259
transactions, HEA funds totaling $399,812
were deposited into accounts maintained by
Harris. Harris paid out $247,700.50 in checks
to the HEA beneficiaries in exchange for these
checks and, through these transactions, retained
$152,111.50 of the HEA funds for himself.
Deputy
Attorneys General David M. Fritch and Robert
Czepiel took the guilty plea from Harris and
presented today’s indictment to the
state grand jury. The investigations in these
cases were conducted and coordinated for the
Division of Criminal Justice Corruption Bureau
by Lt. Keith Lerner, Sgt. Robert Ferriozzi,
Detective Andrea Salvatini, Detective Anthony
Luyber, Deputy Chief of Detectives Neal Cohen,
Analyst Alison Callery and Deputy Attorneys
General Fritch and Czepiel with assistance
from the New Jersey Department of Community
Affairs.
Second-degree
crimes carry a maximum sentence of 10 years
in state prison and a $150,000 fine, while
third-degree crimes carry a maximum sentence
of five years in prison and a $15,000 fine.
Fourth-degree crimes carry a maximum sentence
of 18 months in prison and a $10,000 fine.
The indictment is merely an accusation and
the defendants are presumed innocent until
proven guilty.
The
indictment was handed up to Superior Court
Judge Pedro J. Jimenez Jr. in Mercer County,
who assigned the case to Gloucester County,
where the defendants will be ordered to appear
in court at a later date. The indictment is
linked to this release at www.njpublicsafety.com.
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