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TRENTON
- Acting Attorney General Paula T. Dow and
Criminal Justice Director Stephen J. Taylor
announced that the former chief financial
officer for the Middlesex County Economic
Opportunities Corporation (MCEOC), a charitable
nonprofit agency funded with state and federal
grants, was sentenced today for stealing
$51,000 from the agency.
According
to Director Taylor, Claudia Grant, 79, of
Perth Amboy, was sentenced by Superior Court
Judge Frederick P. DeVesa in Middlesex County
to a five-year term of probation, conditioned
on her paying full restitution of $51,106
to the MCEOC. She pleaded guilty on Dec.
7 to an accusation filed by the Division
of Criminal Justice Corruption Bureau charging
her with third-degree theft by deception.
The
MCEOC is a nonprofit agency which provides
funds and assistance to needy residents
of Middlesex County. It receives funding
in the form of various grants from federal
and state agencies for that purpose. Grant
served as chief financial officer of MCEOC
from May 1971 to March 2006.
In
pleading guilty, Grant admitted that between
July 2004 and February 2005, she used her
position as chief financial officer to authorize
the payment by MCEOC of $99,106 to credit
card companies to pay off her personal credit
card debt. Of that amount, $48,000 represented
reimbursement of cash advances that Grant
made from her personal credit cards in order
to pay a premium bill to Aetna Inc. for
health care coverage for MCEOC employees.
However, there was no legitimate reason
for payment by MCEOC of the balance of $51,106
in personal credit card debt of Grant. She
admitted that she stole that amount from
the agency.
Deputy
Attorney General Steven J. Zweig of the
Division of Criminal Justice Corruption
Bureau prosecuted the case and represented
the state at the sentencing hearing. Detectives
Melissa Calkin and Lee Bailey investigated
for the Division of Criminal Justice Corruption
Bureau. The investigation started with a
referral from the Department of Community
Affairs, which raised concerns regarding
financial problems at MCEOC and the agency's
use of grant funding.
The
Division of Criminal Justice Corruption
Bureau has established a toll-free Corruption
Tipline 1-866-TIPS-4CJ.
The public can also log on to the Division’s
Web site www.njdcj.org
to confidentially report suspected wrongdoing.
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