TOMS RIVER, NJ – The level of corruption and theft involving Ocean Gate Mayor Paul Kennedy continues to grow as the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office continues to pick away at the layers of theft and misconduct by the Mayor.
Previously, he was charged for stealing money from borough parking meters, surplus auctions and more. Now, Kennedy is being accused of selling township scrap metal for personal gain, funneling campaign money to himself and using his position at the Ocean County Buildings and Grounds Department to have public employees perform work at his Lakewood home while on county time.
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Kennedy remains in office, even after this latest round of charges against him.
“The additional charges are the result of an extensive and ongoing investigation conducted by the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office Professional Standards/Corruption Unit and Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office Economic Crime Squad,” Ocean County Prosecutor Bradley Billhimer said Wednesday. ” The investigation revealed that Kennedy, in his capacity as Mayor of Ocean Gate, collected cash from the sale of scrap metal originating in the Borough Recycling Center and then failed to turn over the proceeds to the Borough. Likewise, as Mayor, Kennedy converted funds donated by contributors to “Friends of Ocean Gate” for his re-election campaign, as well as the campaign of his running mates, for his personal benefit. “
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According to Billhimer, it was also discovered during the investigation that Kennedy leveraged his position with the Ocean County Buildings and Grounds Department by requiring certain employees within the Department to perform construction work at his home located at East Lakewood Avenue in Ocean Gate – while those employees were working during business hours for the County of Ocean.
“Kennedy was processed at the Ocean County Sheriff’s Office this morning and released on a summons pending a future court date,” Billhimer said.
Kennedy had previously been charged on March 18, 2022 with Official Misconduct and Theft for failing to turn over proceeds from the sale of assets belonging to the Borough of Ocean Gate – sold by way of the government auction website GovDeals.com – and instead took possession of those proceeds for his own personal benefit. Detectives also discovered 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, likewise attempting to keep those proceeds for his personal benefit. Kennedy was charged on a summons and released pending a future court date relative to the March 18th charges as well.
The new charges come in the wake of an FBI probe of Ocean County elected officials and administrator level employees into sketchy hiring practices, pay to play jobs, crony hires and nepotism, as believed by many within the county administration building.
The FBI recently requested thousands of documents via subpoena, including the Ocean County Commissioner’s “blue books” logs of public job referrals for friends, family members, and political friends of influential Ocean County Republican Party members.
The FBI investigation is being conducted by the same investigators who have been successful in multiple criminal cases against political insiders in Ocean County including Solomon Dwek and Operation Bid Rig; former Toms River Mayor Carmine Inteso and former Toms River Schools Superintendent Michael Ritacco.