Posted on 01/12/2011 12:24:13 PM PST by Coleus
The chairman of a state pension board publicly denounced a former Harrison firefighter as a cheat and a fraud Monday for collecting a $2,500-per-month disability pension from New Jersey while working as a full-time firefighter in North Carolina.
As Herman Ellis looked on impassively during a hearing in Trenton, the board voted to refer the case to the state Attorney General’s Office for criminal investigation. Board members also said they plan to review whether they can recoup the money Ellis has been paid.
"This is clearly fraud — fraud to steal from the state of New Jersey pension fund," board chairman John Sierchio said. Ellis, 39, has collected more than $60,000 in payments from the New Jersey Police and Firemen’s Retirement System since he retired on disability in November 2008. During the same period, he has worked as a firefighter in Raleigh, N.C., earning $37,000 annually.
The state suspended his pension payments last month, after The Star-Ledger disclosed his apparent double-dipping in a series of reports about the use of anabolic steroids and human growth hormone by New Jersey law enforcement officers and firefighters. The newspaper found Ellis was one of 248 officers and firefighters to receive steroids or other hormones from a Jersey City doctor in 2007. The Star-Ledger also found Ellis was charged with assault last March for allegedly hitting his girlfriend. The charge is pending.
After Monday's hearing, Ellis’ lawyer, Craig Gumpel, said the state was aware of his client’s job in Raleigh, a fact later confirmed by a spokesman for the state Treasury Department. The spokesman, Bill Quinn, said the Division of Pensions and Benefits learned of Ellis’ employment in February 2010. The division, which administers the pension system, then sent Ellis for an independent medical evaluation.
(Excerpt) Read more at nj.com ...
WTH???
Not only that, bur my tax dollars don’t need to subsidize N Carolinas economy
Not only that, bur my tax dollars don’t need to subsidize N Carolinas economy
“He should be in jail.”
Why? Did he commit a crime?
Cops and firefighters breaking drug laws? Color me shocked.
Why? Did he commit a crime?
You don't consider fraud a crime? He either defrauded New Jersey with a fake disability claim or he defrauded the North Carolina fire department by taking the job even though he was disabled.
His steroid use was also a crime.
I would LOVE to see crooks like this in prison. That would be real SOCIAL JUSTICE, not the commie crap “social justice” the Left tries to sell everybody.
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