Assemblyman Kevin O'Toole

O'TOOLE PRAISES ATTORNEY GENERAL'S OFFICE FOR PRESCHOOL THEFT INVESTIGATION AND INDICTMENTS

HOPES IT IS THE FIRST IN A STRING OF INDICTMENTS AND CONVICTIONS ON CORRUPTION CHARGES
June 15, 2006
Assemblyman Kevin O'Toole/973-696-2323
Assembly Republican Office/609-292-5339

O'TOOLE PRAISES ATTORNEY GENERAL'S OFFICE FOR PRESCHOOL THEFT INVESTIGATION AND INDICTMENTS

HOPES IT IS THE FIRST IN A STRING OF INDICTMENTS AND CONVICTIONS ON CORRUPTION CHARGES

Assemblyman Kevin O'Toole today praised Division of Criminal Justice Director Gregory Paw and Attorney General Zulima Farber for securing indictments of three preschool administrators in connection with the recent scandal involving the misappropriation of preschool funds.

"The Attorney General's Office is to be commended for this investigation and these indictments," said O'Toole, R-Essex, Passaic, and Bergen. "Hopefully this is just the start of an aggressive crack-down on public corruption, particularly as it relates to the misuse of public funds in the state’s preschool funding program."

A grand jury indicted three leaders of the New Africa Day Care Center preschool for needy children for allegedly using more than $200,000 in taxpayer funds for their personal use.

The nine-count indictment alleges that the director, her son, and ex-husband used public funds to buy two Jaguars as well as vacations in Chicago and Hyannis Port. According to The Record of Hackensack, New Africa received about $1.8 million in public funds from January 2001 to March 2004.

The Record published a report in April detailing numerous examples of waste and abuse of taxpayer dollars in New Jersey's preschool program for low-income children.

The story cited a Jersey City preschool owner who charged state taxpayers for a Caribbean time share two years in a row and a Hoboken center that collected hundreds of thousands of dollars in state funds without telling New Jersey that the federal government had already paid for the same preschoolers.

Other examples of waste and abuse include payments for luxury car leases, Omaha steaks, shrimp, Godiva chocolates, wedding gifts, and motorcycle insurance. Even cat food purchases were buried in the books along with inflated rents, six-figure salaries and $900,000 in personal loans.

According to the story, one administrator, Regina Okafor, gave herself a $291,000 salary, and has defiantly kept state-funded computers, books and furniture since her contract expired.

"Given the information that has come to light about these preschool programs, this is just the first in what should be a parade of indictments and convictions," O'Toole said. "And, just as importantly, at some point I want to hear from officials in the Department of Education to find out why nobody was minding the store while these taxpayer dollars were being misspent."

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