Former Elizabeth School Attendance Officer Charged with Defrauding Board of Education
Allegedly Worked Part-Time Job During Work Hours
| U.S. Attorney’s Office October 05, 2012 |
NEWARK—A former attendance liaison officer for the Elizabeth Board of Education (EBOE) was charged today with allegedly working a second job while he was supposed to be tracking down truant students, U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman announced.
Scott J. Farley, 43, of Cranford, New Jersey, is charged by complaint with stealing property valued at $5,000 or more controlled by the EBOE. Farley will make his initial court appearance next week before U.S. Magistrate Judge Mark Falk in Newark federal court.
According to the criminal complaint:
Farley served as an attendance liaison officer for the EBOE for both school years 2009 to 2010 and 2010 to 2011, for which he received a salary of $40,499 and $42,825, respectively. He was paid to work from 8:15 a.m. to 3:05 p.m., conducting home visits relating to excessive student absences. During this same time, Farley maintained part-time employment in the shipping and receiving department of a private corporation based in Mountainside, New Jersey.
Time sheets from the private corporation revealed that Farley worked there during many hours when he was obligated to be performing his duties as a truant officer. During the 2009 to 2010 school year, he worked more than 350 hours at the private corporation’s facilities in Mountainside and Tampa, Florida, while he was being paid by the EBOE. During school calendar year 2010 to 2011, Farley worked nearly 300 hours at the private corporation’s facility in Mountainside while he was being paid by the school district. For each year, the estimated loss to the EBOE caused by Farley’s absences totaled between $10,000 and $12,000.
The count with which Farley is charged is punishable by a maximum potential penalty of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
U.S. Attorney Fishman credited special agents of the FBI, under the direction of Michael B. Ward in Newark; and investigators with the Union County Prosecutor’s Office, under the direction of Theodore Romankow, with the investigation leading to today’s charge.
The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark J. McCarren of the U.S. Attorney’s Office Special Prosecutions Division in Newark and Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert Vanderstreet of the Union County Prosecutor’s Office.
The charge and allegations contained in the complaint are merely accusations, and the defendant is considered innocent unless and until proven guilty.