Pubdate: Sun, 01 Apr 2007
Source: News Journal, The (Wilmington, DE)
Copyright: 2007 The News Journal
Contact: http://www.delawareonline.com/newsjournal/opinion/index.html
Website: http://www.delawareonline.com/newsjournal/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/822
Author: Jason Method, Gannett New Jersey bureau

1,800 FELONS ON N.J. PUBLIC PAYROLLS, RECORDS SHOW

In New Jersey, It's Not a Crime to Be a Public Employee With A Criminal Record.

More than 1,800 felony offenders are on the public  payrolls, from 
public works employees to teachers to  corrections officers, a 
Gannett New Jersey review of  payroll and criminal records has found.

While there is a law against the hiring of public  school teachers 
with certain offenses, such as drug  dealing, there is no overall 
prohibition in the state  that bars local, county and state 
governments from  hiring offenders, be it murderers or shoplifters.

And even for teachers, the state Department of  Education doesn't 
routinely run criminal background  checks after they are hired. 
Gannett found six  educators who were apparently convicted of serious 
offenses after entering the school system, including a  drug offender 
and an assistant principal caught  carrying a gun.

Five other teachers committed offenses before becoming  teachers, but 
were hired by schools anyway.

Still, not all convicted felons are pariahs in the  government's 
eyes, experts and some local officials  say. Prohibitions vary from 
agency to agency and even  government job to government job. Workers 
in the most  sensitive jobs -- those who care for the elderly 
and  children, and handle money -- usually face higher  standards. 
But there is no clear-cut line that shows  who should and shouldn't 
be hired by government.

Jersey City's public works department, for example,  runs a program 
that allows former prison inmates to be  hired as long as they stay 
out of trouble and drug  free.

"What do you do with everyone who has paid their debt  to society?" 
said Oren K. Dabney Sr., chief executive  officer, Jersey City 
Incinerator Authority. "We can't  ostracize their rights forever. 
That's how you rebuild  communities -- by giving an opportunity to 
those who  have made mistakes in their lives." In Gannett's 
review  of 450,000 government employee records and 
586,000  conviction records, 1,800 employees had offender  records 
back to 1982. When narrowed to recent times --  the last 10 years 
Gannett found:

There are about 980 state, county and local government  workers with 
apparent criminal convictions employed as  of the end of 2006.

Of those employees, 400 held their jobs at the time of  their conviction.

More than a third of the 980 public employees were  sentenced to jail 
time, and 158 were sentenced to more  than a year in jail.

Nearly 400 charges involved illegal drugs, the most  common offense. 
About 100 charges involved theft.

In addition, there were 58 police and firefighters with  apparent 
criminal records, including 45 who were  convicted after they were 
hired. There were also 16  teachers with apparent criminal records, 
including five  who were fired two weeks ago.

Most individuals are not named in this report because  their status 
could not be confirmed by employers. Most  employers refused to 
discuss what they called personnel  matters.

Gannett New Jersey examined the data of public  employees and 
offenders by matching the names and birth  date. In a number of 
cases, serious charges were down  graded to almost traffic level 
offenses. In one case a  firefighter, indicted on a charge of 
aggravated sexual assault, eventually pleaded guilty to "alarming  conduct."

The disorderly persons offense led to a fine of $550.

Nine employees of the state's child protection agency  were found to 
have apparent criminal records that  included theft and drug 
possession. Andy Williams, a  spokesman for the Department of 
Children and Families,  said he could not confirm or comment on the 
nine employees. The employees could not be reached for  comment.

State law prohibits the Department of Children and  Families from 
hiring people convicted of certain crimes  against children or 
committing violent acts.

For other offenders, the law allows a convict to be  hired if he or 
she can demonstrate their rehabilitation  to the commissioner.

Williams said if prospective or current employees are  convicted of 
other offenses, officials make a judgment  about what to do next.

"Primarily what they look at is the severity of the  offense and when 
it occurred," Williams said. "Did it  happen 20 years ago? 
Pre-employment and  post-employment, we evaluate it and decide what's 
in  the best interest of the agency."

State law says courts may order public workers to give  up their jobs 
if they committed the crime during the  course of their employment, 
such as stealing from the  agency or taking a bribe.

School employees

An assistant junior high school principal convicted of  unlawfully 
possessing a handgun and an elementary  school teacher who pleaded 
guilty to child negligence  are among 11 school employees statewide 
with criminal  records that may prohibit them from working in 
schools, a review of state records shows.

"Some offenses appear to be disqualifying, some are  not," Jon Zlock, 
a spokesman for the state Department  of Education, said of the 
convictions of the 11  employees.

He said Carl Carabelli, manager of the DOE's criminal  history review 
unit, is currently reviewing the  employees' criminal records to 
determine if any  employee should be dismissed.

"Obviously, we don't want educators with criminal  histories in the 
classroom," Zlock said.

State law requires that all potential school employees  submit to a 
criminal background check conducted by the  state police and FBI.

That same law orders the education commissioner to  declare 
ineligible any potential school employee found  to have committed 
second or first degree offenses, or  one of a selected range of other 
lesser offenses such  as drug distribution or possession.

However, no criminal checks are performed after a  school employee is 
hired, Zlock said. And it is unclear  whether an employee who commits 
a crime after being  hired is subject to dismissal under the law, Zlock  said.

"That's one of the things we're looking into," Zlock said.

The 11 identified by Gannett as having potentially  disqualifying 
records include eight teachers, an  assistant principal and one 
employee whose duties are  unclear. All were employed in the school 
system in  2006.

Of the 11 found by Gannett, 5 of them committed crimes  prior to 
being hired and apparently after mandatory  background checks, records show.

In North Jersey two weeks ago, five school employees  were fired 
after it was discovered they had criminal  records, according to the 
Department of Education.

They are:

Douglas Hanania, 28, a teacher in a Jersey City  elementary school. 
He was convicted in 2002 of  distributing marijuana and sentenced to 
two years'  probation.

James Hargrove, 37, a teacher's aide in a Paterson  elementary 
school, who was convicted of drug possession  in 1998. He was 
sentenced to 180 days in jail and  placed on five years' probation.

Raymond Nasta, 59, a history teacher at Bergen County  Tech in 
Teterboro. He was convicted of theft by  deception in 1998. He was 
placed on five years'  probation.

Clint Agnew, 33, a janitor in a Fort Lee school. Agnew  pleaded 
guilty to child abuse in Ridgefield Park in  1998. He was placed on 
one year probation.

Nathan Sproviero, 46, a school messenger in Teaneck who  pleaded 
guilty to possession of cocaine in 2004. He was  placed on one year probation.

Zlock said that during the 2005-2006 school year, the  DOE conducted 
72,000 pre-employment background checks  and that about 1,200 
potential school employees were  deemed ineligible as a result.

"However, it's clear that there is more that [the DOE]  can and 
should do to make sure that people who should  not be working in 
schools are not working in schools,"  Zlock wrote in an e-mail. "We 
are currently developing  a proposal on how to best address the many 
key issues involved in this matter." Public safety

Corrections officers

Records show 11 senior state corrections officers  apparently have 
criminal convictions, ranging from  simple assault to offensive 
touching and ethnic  intimidation.

Nine of the officers were convicted after they were  hired, records 
show. Most had salaries of $68,407 last  year.

Corrections department spokeswoman Deirdre Fedkenheuer  declined to 
comment on any apparent charges against the  officers, citing 
employee confidentiality. But she said  corrections officers are 
civil service employees who  can be suspended or fired depending on 
the circumstances of their convictions.

One of the 11 corrections officers was fired after his  conviction, 
only to have his firing reduced to a  120-day suspension by a state 
administrative law judge,  according to the 2000 minutes of a state 
panel, the  Merit System Board, that hears appeals of state employment matters.

State court records show that a senior corrections  officer was 
charged in 1997 with unlawful possession of  a weapon and making 
terroristic threats of violence. In  1998, he pleaded guilty to 
assault with the intent to  intimidate the victim because of his 
ethnicity, a  fourth-degree crime. He was given one year of  probation.

In rare instances, police officers and others can be  incorrectly 
linked to a criminal by name and  circumstances. Gannett found that 
one police officer  was listed as a convicted cocaine dealer when it 
was  actually his cousin. The officer, who is not being  identified, 
said his cousin gave authorities the  officer's name and birth date 
during one arrest a  decade ago. But that false alias provided by his 
cousin  persists in state police and court records.

Other records show that four members of the Jersey City  Police 
Department have apparent criminal backgrounds  that include threats 
to kill and using a false driver's  license.

Jersey City Business Administrator Brian O'Reilly said  he would 
contact the city's lawyers to review the  cases.

Bob Cullinane and James W. Prado Roberts of the  Gannett New Jersey 
bureau contributed to this report.
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