Two brothers operating a school bus company in Paterson were arrested Tuesday, Dec. 20, by Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin. A public school district was misled about who was transporting its students to school when they employed unqualified drivers — including those with suspended licenses, arrest records and criminal convictions.
The two men are brothers of Paterson City Council President Shahin Khalique, who is currently under investigation for election fraud.
Shelim Khalique, 53, of Wayne, and Jwel Khalique, 43, of Totowa, were taken into custody Tuesday by the New Jersey State Police and processed at Troop B Headquarters in Totowa on charges of conspiracy, false representation for a government contract, and theft by deception. In addition to being charged with misconduct by a corporate official, Jwel Khalique, the owner and president of American Star Transportation LLC, is also facing misconduct charges.
The company held contracts in Paterson, Jersey City, Franklin Lakes, River Edge and Mahwah.
“Parents should not have to worry when they put their children on a school bus whether they will be driven to school safely by a professional driver who meets the requirements of state and federal law,” said Attorney General Platkin. “This company was entrusted with the precious lives of children every day, and its owners had a duty to hire competent, trustworthy employees to transport those children safely. But the business owners were putting those students’ lives in danger for profit.”
The pair are accused of knowingly misrepresenting the qualifications of the company, its drivers and aides so they could get contracts to transport students by various school districts, like Paterson, Jersey City, Mahwah, River Edge, and Franklin Lakes Public Schools.
According to investigators, Shelim Khalique transferred the equipment, assets, and employees of A-1 Elegant Tours Inc. to American Star Transportation. After being accused of similar misconduct, A-1 Elegant Tours was brought to court in June 2020 on criminal charges. It’s alleged that they provided false information to school districts to hide that they hired unqualified drivers, didn’t do drug tests or criminal background checks on drivers and aides, and operated unsafe buses.
“It takes a special level of callousness to allow people facing criminal charges to get behind the wheels of school buses packed with children, while deceiving parents and school administrators about the risks those students are facing,” said OPIA Executive Director Tom Eicher. “These defendants allegedly tried to beat the system and evade rules designed to keep kids safe.”
Drivers and aides purportedly to staff school bus routes were listed in the documents submitted by the suspects. During the time the listed drivers were assigned elsewhere, other employees who weren’t properly licensed, and who in some cases had criminal backgrounds, transported the students.
On February 21, 2022, a River Edge police officer pulled over an American Star driver for running a stop sign. He was unlicensed and had a pending case for patronizing prostitutes.
During the investigation, it turned out that the defendants and their accomplices employed a lot of drivers that didn’t have CDLs with the required endorsements to carry kids. There were some drivers who had suspended licenses, and some were allowed to drive students to and from school despite incomplete background checks, fingerprints, and drug tests.
New Jersey laws and regulations require that school bus drivers and bus aides must undergo drug testing and criminal background checks, and drivers or aides with a criminal history or with known substance abuse issues are prohibited from driving school buses.
In addition, the Motor Vehicle Commission has issued numerous motor vehicle summonses to the company and conducted numerous inspections on its buses that, according to the AG’s Office, corroborate the false representations used to deceive public school districts into awarding American Star with contracts.
The investigation is being conducted by the New Jersey State Police Official Corruption Bureau, North Unit, and Deputy Attorneys General Samantha Thoma and Caroline A. Oliveira of the OPIA Corruption Bureau, under the supervision of Corruption Bureau Chief Peter Lee, OPIA Deputy Director Anthony Picione and OPIA Executive Director Thomas Eicher.
The charges are merely accusations, and the defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in a court of law