Teachers union ex-chief charged

Source: By Melanie Burney

The former head of the Camden Education Association was charged yesterday with stealing thousands of dollars from the teachers union and spending it on gambling.

A two-count indictment alleges that Claraliene Gordon used her union-issued credit card in Atlantic City casinos at least 26 times during the six years she was union president, state Attorney General Anne Milgram said. She racked up $14,974 in personal expenses on the card between September 2000 and August 2006, Milgram said.

"Anybody who paid a penny in union dues should be upset," said union member Karen Borrelli, a physical education teacher at Dr. Charles Brimm Medical Arts High. "Our money didn't go where it was supposed to go."

The indictment is the second stemming from a sweeping state criminal probe launched in 2006 into alleged test-rigging and spending practices in the Camden school system.

Read more: http://www.philly.com/inquirer/local/20071116_Ex-teachers_union_chief_charged_with_stealing.html

...so Fayetteville must be pretty dull for her.

TOMS RIVER — A one-time candidate for the Brick Board of Education has pleaded guilty to bilking almost $275,000 from two insurance companies and the Social Security Administration by collecting disability insurance while working for a home-improvement business headed by his police-officer son. Charles G. Skoog, 60, formerly of Brick and now living in Lexington, Va., pleaded guilty Monday before Superior Court Judge Wendel E. Daniels to two counts of insurance fraud and one count of theft by deception in a plea bargain his attorney believes will keep his client out of jail. Skoog's son, Erik, 35, of Brick, also implicated in the scheme, has resigned from the Brick police force and will apply to the court's pretrial intervention program. If Erik Skoog successfully completes pretrial intervention, he will avoid a criminal record.

Erik Skoog joined the Brick police force in January of 1995. He was placed on paid administrative leave in October of 2005, when the Ocean County Prosecutor's Office began investigating the alleged fraud. He was suspended without pay when he was indicted in April of 2006. Charles Skoog unsuccessfully ran for the Brick school board in 2003 and had been involved in the Brick Police Athletic League and the Brick High School PTA. He also was a past president of the Brick Dragons Football Club. His plea bargain calls for him and his son to repay a total of $274,854 to the insurance companies and Social Security Administration, said Assistant Ocean County Prosecutor William Porter. It has yet to be determined what portion of the amount each will be required to pay, Porter said. Being questioned by his attorney, Bradley Billhimer, Charles Skoog admitted to Daniels in court on Monday that he bilked Liberty Mutual and Merchants Mutual insurance companies each of more than $500 by receiving benefits from the companies based on false worker's compensation claims while he was self-employed. Charles Skoog also admitted that he fraudulently obtained more than $500 in Social Security disability benefits by creating the false impression he was not employed or receiving any other types of benefits.

The deception occurred between July 1, 1998 and Feb. 16, 2006, according to an indictment, handed up in April of 2006, that charged both Skoogs in the scheme. The actual amounts obtained by Charles Skoog were $101,466.30 from Liberty Mutual, $67,709.20 from Merchants Mutual, and $105,678.50 from the Social Security Administration, Porter said. Porter credited prosecutor's Investigator Mark Malinowski, the Ocean County Surrogate's Office, Social Security Administration and the New Jersey Division of Taxation with an investigation that uncovered the thefts. The actual amounts of the thefts are in line with second-degree crimes carrying prison terms of five to 10 years, but Billhimer said constant negotiations with the prosecutor's office over the past year and a half led to them being downgraded to third-degree crimes, which carry a maximum prison term of five years but a presumption of no incarceration if the defendant has no prior criminal record. Billhimer said Charles Skoog has no prior criminal record. While there is a possibility he could receive a jail term when he is sentenced by Daniels on Feb. 8, that is unlikely, Billhimer said. "I'm pleased with the result," Billhimer said. "I'm happy to have the opportunity to keep Mr. Skoog out of jai."

If Erik Skoog is accepted into pretrial intervention, he will not have to admit wrongdoing, but restitution will be required to successfully complete the program, according to Porter. The prosecutor's office will not object to allowing Erik Skoog to enter pretrial intervention, Porter said. As part of the plea bargain, additional charges against Charles Skoog will be dismissed. They are, two counts of worker's compensation fraud and one count each of filing fraudulent tax returns and failing to pay state income taxes on the benefits he is alleged to have unlawfully collected. Erik Skoog is charged in the indictment with the insurance fraud, worker's compensation fraud and theft by deception counts. Authorities have alleged the son was complicit in his father's thefts because he was named as either the president of owner of the companies from which his father was deriving income. Erik Skoog has a court conference on the charges scheduled for Feb. 8, the day of his father's sentencing.