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TRENTON
– Attorney General Paula T. Dow and
Criminal Justice Director Stephen J. Taylor
announced that an Atlantic City man who
formerly worked as a local administrator
of the New Jersey Home Energy Assistance
(HEA) Program has been indicted on charges
he stole $9,062 from the program by filing
fraudulent applications to obtain benefits.
Three
women who were local administrators of the
HEA Program were previously charged with
fraud involving the program as a result
of investigations by the Division of Criminal
Justice, conducted with assistance from
the Department of Community Affairs. Those
three women worked for Tri-County Community
Action, the local agency handling HEA applications
in Gloucester, Salem, and Cumberland Counties.
Two pleaded guilty to official misconduct,
with one sentenced to five years in prison
and the other also facing prison when she
is sentenced. The charges are pending against
the third woman. In addition, a man who
owns a heating oil supply company in Paulsboro
was sentenced to four years in prison.
According
to Director Taylor, Marvin Laws, 55, of
Atlantic City, was charged Friday, Oct.
8, in a state grand jury indictment with
official misconduct (2nd degree), theft
by deception (3rd degree), misapplication
of entrusted property and property of government
(3rd degree), tampering with public records
or information (3rd degree), and falsifying
records (4th degree).
Laws
was employed as an HEA benefits manager
by Atlantic Human Resources, a nonprofit
contracted by the DCA to administer the
HEA program in Atlantic County. The indictment
alleges that between August 2003 and May
2008, while employed as an HEA benefits
manager, Laws used his position to enter
or have others enter false application information
into the HEA database in order to unlawfully
qualify for and obtain $9,062 in HEA benefits.
The investigation revealed that his annual
income was reported in the database as $15,600
for each year from 2003 to 2008, so that
he could qualify for benefits, when his
documented income, in fact, ranged from
$43,663 to $79,417. Laws also worked part-time
for the City of Pleasantville during that
period.
Deputy
Attorney General David M. Fritch presented
the case to the state grand jury. The investigation
was 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 Robert Czepiel.
The
indictment was handed up to Superior Court
Judge Linda R. Feinberg in Mercer County,
who assigned the case to Atlantic County,
where the defendant will be ordered to appear
in court at a later date to answer the charges.
The indictment is posted with this release
at www.njpublicsafety.com.
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 defendant is presumed innocent until
proven guilty.
The
HEA Program is administered by the Department
of Community Affairs and local agencies
contracted by the DCA. The 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. It is alleged that
Laws fraudulently obtained benefits under
both programs.
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