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For Immediate Release:
For Further Information:
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September 7, 2011

Office of The Attorney General
- Paula T. Dow, Attorney General
Division of Criminal Justice
- Stephen J. Taylor, Director

Media Inquiries-
Peter Aseltine
609-292-4791
Citizen Inquiries-
609-292-4925

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Newark Daycare Operator Sentenced to Prison for Stealing $234,664 in Public Funding

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TRENTON – Attorney General Paula T. Dow and Criminal Justice Director Stephen J. Taylor announced that the former executive director of the now-defunct New Africa Day Care Center in Newark was sentenced to state prison today for stealing $234,664 in public funding that she and her co-defendants diverted from the non-profit day care center for their personal use.

According to Director Taylor, Muslimah Suluki, 63, of College Park, Georgia, was sentenced to four years in state prison by Superior Court Judge Pedro J. Jimenez Jr. in Mercer County. She was ordered to pay restitution of $234,664 to the New Jersey Department of Education. Suluki pleaded guilty on June 7 to a second-degree charge of theft by failure to make a required disposition of property received. The charge was contained in a June 14, 2006 indictment obtained by the Division of Criminal Justice, which also named her ex-husband, her son, and New Africa Day Care Center Inc., the corporate owner of the center.

Deputy Attorney General David M. Fritch took the guilty plea from Suluki for the Division of Criminal Justice Corruption Bureau and represented the state at the sentencing.

“Instead of using government pre-school funding to advance the development and education of the disadvantaged children in her care, this defendant stole more than $230,000 so that she could live a life of luxury,” said Attorney General Dow. “This prison sentence sends a deterrent message that we will aggressively investigate and prosecute those who misuse public funds.”

“We have now secured prison or jail sentences for all three individual defendants who were indicted in this case, including two who were arrested as fugitives in North Carolina,” said Director Taylor. “This case demonstrates our determination to hold those who engage in this type of abuse accountable.”

Suluki’s ex-husband, Mahdi Suluki, 69, of East Orange, who served as a consultant and board member of New Africa Day Care Center, pleaded guilty on July 21, 2008 to stealing private donations to the daycare center. He fled New Jersey after pleading guilty, but he and Muslimah Suluki, who also was a fugitive, were arrested in January 2010 in North Carolina by local authorities on New Jersey warrants. They were returned to New Jersey by the U.S. Marshals Service. Muslimah Suluki was also ordered today to pay $2,041 to the Attorney General’s Office to cover the cost to the state of returning her to New Jersey. Mahdi Suluki was sentenced on June 30, 2010 to four years in state prison and was ordered to repay the stolen donation.

New Africa was formerly located on South Orange Avenue in Newark. The state’s investigation revealed that between January 2001 and March 2004, when New Africa closed, the defendants took thousands of dollars in state funds that were dedicated for day care and preschool programs and used them for personal expenditures, including, among other things, purchases of two Jaguars for Muslimah and Mahdi Suluki, and vacations in Chicago and Hyannis Port, Mass. Muslimah Suluki’s son, Robert Parrish, 47, of Neptune, N.J. – in concert with his mother – diverted funds from the non-profit New Africa Day Care Center to a for-profit day care center they ran in Neptune called Aziz Learning Center, from which they withdrew profits.

On July 29, 2008, Parrish was convicted at trial as an accomplice of third-degree charges of theft by failure to make a required disposition of property, misconduct by a corporate official, and failure to file a state income tax return for 2002. He was sentenced on Oct. 24, 2008 to five years probation, conditioned on him serving 200 days in the Mercer County Jail.

The investigation was conducted by State Investigator Wayne Cummings and Detective Lee Bailey for the Division of Criminal Justice Corruption Bureau and Tax Investigator Bruce Stuck of the New Jersey Division of Taxation Office of Criminal Investigation. Deputy Attorney General Susan Kase presented the indictment to the state grand jury and prosecuted the husband and son.

The investigation started when the Department of Education discovered questionable expenditures and reported them to the Attorney General’s Office. Attorney General Dow thanked the Department of Education for providing administrative resources and investigative assistance to the Division of Criminal Justice throughout the investigation.

In addition to federal funds, New Africa received Abbott pre-school funding from the New Jersey Department of Education and day care funding from the state Department of Human Services. New Africa, which typically had an enrollment of about 45 children, received more than $1.8 million in public funding during the years it operated.

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