MANALAPAN—The township’s assistant treasurer has been arrested and charged with the theft of municipal funds. According to Monmouth County Prosecutor John Kaye, on the evening of Aug. 21, employees in the finance office, was arrested by detectives from the prosecutor’s office and the Manalapan Police Department and charged with one count of theft. They were released on $20,000 bail following her arrest and suspended without pay from her job in Manalapan.
Others were charged with the theft of $3,468 in court funds, of which $1,500 was cash and the balance, $1,968, was in checks, the prosecutor said.
"The court was the only office in the government that asked for a receipt" when cash and checks were brought to the finance office, Kaye said. "The court administrator would carry over the re-ceipts and check" to make sure they were deposited.
According to Kaye, a simple theft is usually punishable by a jail term of 18 months to three years with a possible fine of $10,000 to $20,000. Since Matus is the assistant treasurer of the township and therefore a government employee, the prosecutor said the jail term could be extended to 20 years if there is a conviction of official misconduct.
One of the employees was hired on Jan. 2, 2001, and her annual salary was $31,200.
Kaye said the case could go to a grand jury within a few months.
Meanwhile, an investigation is continuing into the reported theft of cash and checks totaling $101,478 after the money had been paid to the township tax collector. At what point after that the cash and checks were stolen is unclear. Of that amount, $3,000 was cash and the remainder was in checks. Those funds were discovered missing on July 3.
On Aug. 14, a packet of checks was found in the safe room in the finance-tax collector’s office at town hall. Kaye said it is still not known if some or all of the missing checks from the court administrator’s office and the tax collector’s office were in the packet of checks that was found behind a filing cabinet.
"We have (also) expanded our investigation into the circumstances that allowed this to happen," Kaye said.
The prosecutor said the Division of Local Government Services in the state Department of Community Affairs (DCA) was scheduled to conduct an audit of the town’s finances on Aug. 12 and make recommendations. He said that did not occur.
E.J. Miranda, a spokesman for the DCA, said no audit was ever scheduled. He said the DCA stands ready to provide technical assistance if requested to do so by municipal officials.
According to Mayor Rebecca Aaron-son, the township was never informed that a DCA audit was scheduled.
That being the case, Kaye said, "Since [the DCA] is not doing that, we’re going to do it. I can’t leave it the way it was."
Referring to Manalapan, the prosecutor added, "It’s been an excellently run town for a very long time with Mr. [James] Devereaux as the administrator."
Commenting on their arrest, Aaron-son said, "We appreciate the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office and our own police department’s ongoing efforts to solve this crime and look forward to the successful prosecution of this crime. Obviously, we are deeply saddened that one of our own employees has been charged with this crime, but alleged wrongdoing of one person is in no way a reflection on Manalapan’s many fine and dedicated employees."
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