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TRENTON
– Attorney General Anne Milgram and
Criminal Justice Director Gregory A. Paw
announced that a Camden County man has been
sentenced for stealing more than $10,000
from a rent supplement program administered
by the New Jersey Schools Development Authority.
According
to Director Paw, Michael Burt, 46, of Gloucester
City, was sentenced on Friday, Jan. 11,
to three years probation by Superior Court
Judge John T. McNeill III in Camden County.
He was ordered to pay $10,080 in restitution
to the Schools Development Authority.
Burt
pleaded guilty on November 26 to a charge
of third-degree theft by deception. The
charge was contained in a state grand jury
indictment obtained as a result of an investigation
by the Division of Criminal Justice, Corruption
Bureau, Schools Construction Fraud Unit
and the New Jersey Office of the Inspector
General.
The
investigation revealed that Burt falsified
a New Jersey State residential lease to
reflect higher rental costs in applying
for rent supplements between December 2004
and December 2006. The program run by the
Schools Development Authority locates suitable
replacement dwellings for tenants displaced
by school construction projects. If the
cost is higher, the program pays the difference
between total rent and utilities for the
original apartment and rent and utilities
for the new apartment for up to 42 months.
If the tenant chooses not to rent the designated
replacement apartment, the program will
pay actual rent and utilities for another
apartment up to the cost of the designated
apartment.
Burt
paid $950 a month in rent and utilities
for his original apartment. When he was
relocated, he declined the designated replacement
apartment, which had monthly rent and utility
costs of $1,600. Burt found another apartment,
but altered the lease to indicate rent of
$1,600 in applying for SDA rent supplements.
In fact, the rent was $950, and utilities
were $230, for a total of $1,180. As a result,
he was overpaid $420 per month for 24 months,
for a total theft of $10,080.
The
case was investigated by Supervising State
Investigator Frederick Weidman and State
Investigator Francis Gallagher of the Schools
Construction Fraud Unit in the Corruption
Bureau of the Division of Criminal Justice,
along with Assistant Inspector General William
Thomas of the Office of the Inspector General.
The case was prosecuted by Deputy Attorney
General Pearl Minato of the Schools Construction
Fraud Unit, Corruption Bureau, Division
of Criminal Justice.
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