TRENTON
– Attorney General Jeffrey S. Chiesa
announced that the president of the Elizabeth
School Board has been indicted for allegedly
stealing from the Elizabeth School District’s
free lunch program by filing false applications
for her children. The federally funded program
offers free and reduced-price lunches for
students who otherwise might not be able to
afford them.
Marie
L. Munn, 47, of Elizabeth, the current president
of the Elizabeth School Board, was indicted
yesterday by a state grand jury on third-degree
charges of theft by deception and tampering
with public records or information. Munn
allegedly filed false applications for her
two children for the district’s free
and reduced-price lunch program, which resulted
in one or both children receiving benefits
to which they were not entitled in each
of the five consecutive school years 2006-07,
2007-08, 2008-09, 2009-10 and 2010-11. One
child graduated in 2009, so only the remaining
child received benefits in the last two
years. As a result of the fraudulent applications,
her children allegedly received $4,549 in
benefits to which they were not entitled.
Munn
allegedly grossly understated her household
income to obtain the benefits for her children.
Her and her husband’s annual incomes
exceeded the federal household income limit
for the program by as much as $100,000 in
2008-09, and by $94,000 or more in three
of the other years.
“You
would think that the school board president
of an Abbott district would carefully guard
any resources dedicated to helping disadvantaged
schoolchildren,” said Attorney General
Chiesa. “But this indictment charges
that Marie Munn shamelessly stole $4,549
from the federally funded free lunch program
by filing fraudulent applications for her
own children.”
“With
this indictment, we are moving forward with
our prosecution of Munn,” said Director
Stephen J. Taylor of the Division of Criminal
Justice. “We urge any member of the
public who has information regarding suspected
fraud involving the free school lunch program
or any other public assistance program to
contact us.”
Munn
was initially arrested on Sept. 19, 2011,
along with two other individuals who allegedly
defrauded the Elizabeth School District’s
free lunch program: Peter W. Abitanto, 43,
of Elizabeth, who is the husband of the
head custodian for the Elizabeth School
District, and Angela Lucio, 36, of Elizabeth,
an employee of the City of Elizabeth and
ex-wife of a principal in the Elizabeth
School District. The original complaints
against Abitanto and Lucio, charging them
with third-degree theft by deception and
tampering with public records, are pending.
The
charges against the defendants are merely
accusations and they are presumed innocent
until proven guilty. Third-degree crimes
carry a sentence of three to five years
in state prison and a fine of up to $15,000.
The
investigation was launched by the Division
of Criminal Justice Corruption Bureau after
an article in The Star-Ledger revealed that
the children of officials in the Elizabeth
school district were improperly participating
in the federally subsidized school lunch
program despite household incomes that exceeded
the limits for eligibility.
Deputy
Attorney General Mark Ondris presented the
case to the state grand jury. The investigation
was conducted by Detective Sgt. Lisa King
of the New Jersey State Police Official
Corruption North Unit, Deputy Attorney General
Ondris, and Detective Pablo Castro of the
State Police Official Corruption North Unit.
Attorney
General Chiesa and Director Taylor noted
that the Division of Criminal Justice Corruption
Bureau has established a toll-free Corruption
Tipline 1-866-TIPS-4CJ
for the public to report corruption, financial
crime and other illegal activities. Additionally,
the public can log on to the Division of
Criminal Justice Web page at www.njdcj.org
to report suspected wrongdoing. All information
received through the Division of Criminal
Justice Corruption Tipline or Web page will
remain confidential.
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