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Ocean Twp. Court Inundated With Calls About Indicted Court Clerk From Freehold

OCEAN TOWNSHIP — The municipal court here has been flooded this morning with calls from people who want to know if their case has been mishandled by a Superior Court clerk accused of altering checks valued at more than $18,000.

"It's not our court or our employee and we have nothing to do with it," said Antoinette Bodine, the municipal court administrator for Ocean Township.

The woman accused of the theft, Lisa Morton, 41, of Freehold, works for the state
Superior Court's finance division ofice, which is located in Ocean Township, the Monmouth County Prosecutor's Office said. That office has no connection to the municipal court, Bodine said.

"I have four women who work here and since this morning they have been receiving constant calls about this case," Bodine said. "We just want people to know they're calling the wrong place."

Questions regarding Morton should be addressed to the court administrator for the Monmouth Vicinage in Freehold, officials said.

Freehold: Superior Court employee altered checks

A finance clerk working for the state Superior Court in Monmouth County has been charged with theft and official misconduct for altering checks collectively worth more than $18,000, the Monmouth County Prosecutor's Office said Tuesday.

Lisa Morton, 41, of Freehold was arrested Feb. 15 and released on her own recognizance, Prosecutor Luis A. Valentin said. She had been a court employee for more than 20 years and was most recently a supervisor assigned to the court's finance division in Ocean Township, the Prosecutor's Office said.

Prosecutor's detectives began investigating the alleged check-altering in December, Valentin said. Investigators allege Morton altered 23 checks totaling $7,553 and deposited them into her personal bank account, he said. Another 20 checks, totaling $11,280, were also altered, but not cashed due to a stop-payment order, he said.

"Morton violated the trust of her superiors and the fiduciary responsibility that she owed to the people of the state," Valentin said. "This constituted a significant breach of her duties as a public servant."

Valentin said the scheme came to light when the Trial Court Administrator's Office spotted irregularities and called the Prosecutor's Office.

Official misconduct is a second-degree crime and carries a maximum prison term of 10 years upon conviction, the Prosecutor's Office said. The theft and attempted theft are third-degree crimes, and each carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison upon conviction, prosecutors said.

The New Jersey Criminal Code lists a presumption of incarceration for second-degree criminal convictions. Third-degree crimes do not carry that presumption, according to the code, and probation is generally recommended for people who are convicted of those crimes and do not have prior criminal records, prosecutors said.

Morton was fired on Dec. 14, 2007, according to the Prosecutor's Office.

Monmouth County: County to oust department head

Monmouth County government officials have decided to oust the head of the Shade Tree Department from the $78,000-per-year job when the position comes up for reappointment in two weeks — though Middletown resident Gary Lovallo said the department “made significant strides” in the two years he was superintendent.

(Now we’ll see who gets the job, and for how much… Thomas Aumack is “the acting” super. Now lets see if he gets the permanent spot, and if there’s any “family” involved…)

“When they brought me in, they said they wanted to get rid of the country club attitude and make the department more businesslike,” Lovallo said. “I guess that rubbed people the wrong way.”

Lovallo would not elaborate except to say the changes he implemented, which he said included a new computer inventory of trees on county properties, were designed to lead to “a more efficient operation.”

Neither county Public Works Director John W. Tobia, who oversees the Shade Tree Department, nor county spokesman William K. Heine would comment on why Lovallo is being dismissed.

“Gary Lovallo is not being reappointed. That’s all I can say about that,” said Heine, noting the subject was “a personnel matter.”

Lovallo said, “I’m not really contesting anything. I want to move on, though I believe I wasn’t given a fair shake on a lot of things.”

Lovallo also has a business, Consulting Municipal Foresters Inc., based in Old Bridge.

Thomas Aumack has been named acting superintendent of the Shade Tree Department, which maintains the trees along 400 miles of county roadways and at Brookdale Community College and throughout the Monmouth County Park System when requested.

Lovallo said he supervised 33 people in carrying out routine trimming, hazardous tree removals, insect and disease control, tree replacement and capital planting projects.

In April 2007, Monmouth County became the 17th county in the nation to be given a “Tree City USA” designation by the National Arbor Day Foundation.

Bob Jordan: (732) 308-7755, bjordan@app.com

5 GOP candidates lining up for Monmouth County freeholder seats

Five candidates, including incumbent Lillian G. Burry, are in the race so far to win Monmouth County Republican Party endorsements in this year's election for two freeholder seats.

Today is the deadline for any additional candidates to declare their intention to
meet with the party's screening committee, said party Chairman Adam Puharic.

The other seat at stake this year is held by Republican William C. Barham, who
announced two weeks ago he is not seeking reelection. Control of the freeholder board is at stake. Republicans currently hold a 3-2 majority.

Besides Burry, the other candidates for party endorsements are Red Bank Councilman John Curley, Holmdel Mayor Serena DiMaso, former Howell Planning Board member Russ Bohlin and Neptune resident Eileen Kean, director of government affairs for the Medical Society of New Jersey.

Puharic said about 20 members of the party's screening committee will meet with
candidates at party headquarters in Freehold on Saturday. The committee can then forward endorsements for one or both open freeholder seats to delegates at the party convention, scheduled for March 26 at the Middletown VFW.

By Bob Jordan

2 convicted ex-mayors' pensions get cut. ...It's a start!

Former Brick Mayor Joseph C. Scarpelli must repay more than $20,000 he received in pension benefits, a state pension board ruled Wednesday.

The Public Employees Retirement System Board of Trustees also voted unanimously to strip the pension benefits Scarpelli accrued from 1998 until his resignation as Brick mayor at the end of 2006. The order reduces the 68-year-old Scarpelli's monthly pension check to approximately $333 from approximately $1,825, according to Tom Vincz, a state Treasury Department spokesman.

In another unanimous vote, the trustees revoked former Ocean Township (Monmouth County) Mayor Terrance D. Weldon's state pension. Weldon, who recently began a 58-month prison term at Texas' Beaumont Federal Correctional Complex, would have received roughly $1,667 each month beginning next year.

Weldon, 59, pleaded guilty more than five years ago to taking cash bribes in exchange for official favors. He was the first local official to fall in the FBI's Operation Bid Rig investigation.

Scarpelli, who began his tenure as Brick mayor in 1994, pleaded guilty in 2007 to accepting more than $5,000 in bribes to help a developer gain building approvals. He is currently serving an 18-month sentence at a federal prison at Fort Dix.

Current Brick Mayor Stephen C. Acropolis, a longtime opponent of Scarpelli, a Democrat, said he thought loss of pension was an appropriate penalty for officials who abuse the public trust.

"I think any elected official, if they're involved in corruption, they shouldn't get a pension from the state," Acropolis said. "We as taxpayers shouldn't have to pay twice."

Michael Blandina, chairman of the Brick Democratic Municipal Committee, also said he thought the reduction of Scarpelli's pension was fair.

"I think that's the most important thing; it sends a message to other elected officials, whether you're in Brick Township, the state of New Jersey or elsewhere, that they have to do the right thing or face the same consequences," Blandina said.

Repayment schedule

Scarpelli must pay back the $20,000 over a 10-year period, though the exact details of the repayment were still being worked out, Vincz said.

The PERS board also voted Wednesday to suspend a $5,000-per-month pension Weldon receives through the state Police and Firemen's Retirement System. Weldon is a former Asbury Park fire chief and city manager, and the suspension will last from April until the end of his incarceration, Vincz said.

Ocean Township Mayor William F. Larkin said he also thought the board's decisions were fair.

"I think it's certainly a correct ruling," Larkin said. "I feel, and I'm sure a lot of the residents in the community feel, that (Weldon) should not be awarded a pension based on his employment with the town."

Tristan J. Schweiger:
(732) 557-5734 or tschweiger@app.com