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TRENTON
– Attorney General Paula T. Dow and
Criminal Justice Director Stephen J. Taylor
announced that the husband of a former office
manager at New Jersey City University in
Jersey City was sentenced to prison today
on a theft charge filed by the New Jersey
Division of Criminal Justice for stealing
$486,000 from the university’s Student
Government Organization.
According
to Director Taylor, Alex A. Moody, 51, of
Jersey City, was sentenced to six years
in prison by Superior Court Judge Lourdes
I. Santiago in Hudson County. He pleaded
guilty on Feb. 28, 2011 to second-degree
theft by deception, a charge contained in
a state grand jury indictment obtained by
the Division of Criminal Justice. State
charges are pending against his wife, Shaunette
P. Ruffin-Moody, 48. Alex Moody was also
ordered to pay $486,578 in restitution.
The prison sentence will run concurrently
with a six-year federal prison sentence
imposed on him on April 26 in connection
with the theft. The wife was sentenced to
18 months in federal prison as a result
of her plea to charges filed by the U.S.
Attorney’s Office.
Deputy
Attorney General Perry Primavera prosecuted
the case for the Division of Criminal Justice
Corruption Bureau and represented the state
at the sentencing. The state charges stem
from an investigation by Detective Sgt.
Geoffrey P. Forker, Detective Mario DiRienzo,
and the State Police Official Corruption
North Unit. The New Jersey State Police
arrested Shaunette Ruffin-Moody and Alex
Moody on state charges in late August 2010.
They were subsequently charged by federal
authorities.
Ruffin-Moody
was office manager for the Student Government
Organization (SGO) at New Jersey City University.
The SGO is a non-profit organization funded
by student activity fees. As part of her
duties, Ruffin-Moody filled out payment
vouchers to have SGO checks issued. The
vouchers and checks had to be validated
and signed by other university officials.
The
State Police investigation revealed that
from May 7, 2007 to July 8, 2010, Ruffin-Moody
issued 247 unauthorized checks totaling
about $486,578 from the SGO checking account
made payable to herself, her husband or
others. The defendants forged the signature
of the school’s associate dean of
students on most of the checks. The unauthorized
checks were discovered in July 2010, after
several SGO checks bounced and Ruffin-Moody
reported that the SGO had exceeded its budget.
She was suspended without pay after the
suspicious checks were identified.
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