Republican Ocean Gate Mayor Paul Kennedy, 66, allegedly sold municipal property and kept the proceeds for himself.
Ocean County Prosecutor Bradley D. Billhimer announced that Kennedy was charged with official misconduct and theft.
The charges are the result of what Billhimer called an extensive investigation conducted by the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office Professional Standards/Corruption Unit and Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office Economic Crime Squad.
Billhimer said the investigation revealed that Kennedy, in his capacity as Mayor of the Borough of Ocean Gate, failed to turn over proceeds from the sale of borough assets – sold by way of the government auction website GovDeals.com – and instead took possession of those proceeds for his own personal benefit.
The investigation further revealed that Kennedy failed to deposit borough parking meter funds in the borough’s bank account and that he sold borough office furniture through a private Facebook Marketplace account, attempting to keep the proceeds for his personal benefit.
The state Local Finance Board fined Kennedy in July 2014 for his failure to list four borough jobs with a total annual stipend of $50,000 on his financial disclosure forms and refusing to step down from them after he was elected.
At its Jan. 1, 2014, reorganization meeting, the council voted to hire Kennedy in an acting capacity as administrator, personnel director, coordinator of Americans with Disabilities and insurance administrator for the town with 2,000 residents on the Toms River.
Elected officials do not receive an annual salary but Kennedy was paid $50,000 for filling in on the four jobs plus he collected a $40,000 annual salary working as a carpenter for Ocean County.
A state watchdog agency called the arrangement a violation of law because there’s the potential for a conflict of interest and the jobs were never publicly advertised as required by state law.
Kennedy was fined $700 for accepting the positions and for filing financial disclosure statements in 2012 and 2013 that omitted his county and borough salaries.
Kennedy was processed at the Ocean County Sheriff’s Office, and released on a summons pending a future court date for the theft charges.
Billhimer acknowledged the Ocean Gate Police Department and Ocean County Sheriff’s Office for collaborating with the investigation.
The charges are merely accusations and Billhimer said that all defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.