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A local administrator of the state-run Home Energy Assistance (HEA) Program pleaded guilty Friday to stealing from the program. Two of her sisters also pleaded guilty in the scheme Friday.
Constance Campbell, 24, of Chester, Pa., pleaded guilty to a charge of official misconduct before state Superior Court Judge M. Christine Allen-Jackson in Woodbury, state Criminal justice Director Stephen J. Taylor said. The charge was contained in an Aug. 17 state grand jury indictment that charged her and five family members with stealing from the program.
In pleading guilty, Campbell admitted that she used her position as an HEA manager for Tri-County Community Action Partnership to process false HEA applications for herself and the family members who were indicted. Tri-Community Action is a nonprofit contracted by the state to administer the HEA program in Cumberland, Gloucester and Salem counties.
The state will recommend that Campbell be sentenced to five years in state prison. She must pay full restitution to the state Department of Community Affairs, which administers the HEA program, including $4,089 for fraudulent applications she filed for her benefit, and $19,921 for fraudulent applications she filed to deliver benefits to the five family members, all of whom have pleaded guilty and will be responsible with her for paying back the funds they received.Two sisters of Campbell also pleaded guilty Friday, Denise Campbell, 36, of Penns Grove, and Priscilla Campbell, 22, of Paulsboro, each pleaded guilty to misapplication of entrusted government property. Each was admitted into the Pre-Trial Intervention program and was ordered to pay restitution. Denise Campbell was ordered to pay $5,720 in restitution while Priscilla was ordered to pay $3,711 in restitution.
Deputy Attorneys General David M. Fritch and Robert Czepiel took the guilty pleas for the Division of Criminal Justice Corruption Bureau. Sentencing is scheduled for May 27.
The other members of Constance Campbell's family who were involved in the fraud and who pleaded guilty previously include a sister, Patsy Campbell, 30, of Chester, Pa. She pleaded guilty to theft by deception on Jan. 11. The state will recommend that she be sentenced to a term of probation conditioned upon her serving up to 364 days in county jail and paying restitution of $4,710.
A brother, Dennis Campbell, 38, of Philadelphia, and his wife, Hollyann Allen, 37, each pleaded guilty to theft by deception on Dec. 14. The state will recommend that each of them be sentenced to 364 days in county jail as a condition of a term of probation. They must pay restitution of $5,296.
Family members received a total of $24,010 in benefits for which they were not eligible, including approximately $15,000 in HEA checks intended for heating oil purchases. They traded the checks for cash from a Paulsboro-based heating oil supplier, Thomas J. Harris, 66, of Woolwich, owner and sole proprietor of Harris Fuel Oil.
Harris pleaded guilty on Aug. 10 to charges of money laundering and misapplication of government property. He admitted that he defrauded the HEA Program of $400,000 by offering low-income beneficiaries of the program cash for their state-issued assistance checks instead of fuel to heat their homes. He faces four years in prison and must pay restitution of $152,111, representing the total proceeds of the HEA checks he fraudulently acquired minus the amounts he paid to the beneficiaries from those proceeds.
The charges in the Campbell and Harris cases stem from investigations by the Division of Criminal Justice Corruption Bureau, conducted with assistance from the Department of Community Affairs. The investigations were conducted and coordinated for the Corruption Bureau by Lt. Keith Lerner, Sgt. Robert Ferriozzi, Det. Andrea Salvatini, Det. Anthony Luyber, Deputy Chief of Detectives Neal Cohen, Analyst Alison Callery and Deputy Attorneys General Fritch and Czepiel.
– TOM HESTER SR., NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM
