Wildwood Mayor Peter Byron and Metropolis Commissioner Steven Mikulski have been charged immediately with fraudulently taking state well being advantages and fudging time sheets to improperly present that they have been full-time metropolis staff, the state lawyer introduced immediately.
Ernest Troiano, Jr. a former mayor, was additionally charged.
“In the present day we convey costs towards present and former public and elected officers for what we allege are breaches of the general public belief,” mentioned appearing Legal professional Common Matt Platkin. “We are going to work tirelessly to root out public corruption and restore religion in our establishments.”
A prison criticism towards two out of three native officers creates a doable disaster. Wildwood elections are non-partisan, so there is no such thing as a political celebration to call replacements if Byron or Mikulski resign. The third fee, Krista Fitzsimons, would alone not represent a quorum to conduct official enterprise. Byron and Mikulski are presumed to be harmless and are beneath no obligation to depart workplace.
The phrases of all three metropolis commissioners are up in 2023.
After an investigation that started with a referral from the state Division of Pensions and Advantages, the three males have been charged with second-degree theft by illegal taking and third-degree tampering with public data or info. They resist 15 years in jail.
In response to the lawyer common’s workplace, Byron, Mikulski and Troiano have been ineligible for advantages beneath a 2010 state legislation that restricted well being care protection to staff who labored 35 hours per week or me.
As an alternative, prosecutors say Byron and Troiano voted for a decision in 2010 to declare themselves full-time staff. However the probe that they “allegedly falsely signed and submitted timesheets to town indicating they labored full days Monday by means of Friday.
The state claims Byron price the state over $608,900 in premiums and claims by means of final October, whereas the state incurred expenditures of over $286,600 for Troiano and over $103,000 for Mikulski. The allegations say that Mikulski “knowingly made false statements in a ‘Well being Advantages Enrollment and/or Change Type’ submitted to the Metropolis of Wildwood.”
Two of three Wildwood city commissioners charged with illegally taking health benefits