Toms River, NJ – Silverton First Aid has asked the court to shield their company’s finances from public view as a lawsuit filed by Toms River Township against the agency alleging theft of $72,000 worth of fuel from the Township and other publicly owned gas pumps continues in court. In total, Toms River is suing to recoup $750,000 in total losses.
The legal and political tensions between the Township of Toms River and Silverton First Aid Squad have escalated sharply, with the volunteer emergency squad now asking a Superior Court judge to keep its financial records sealed from public view.
The township, in turn, is accusing the nonprofit of trying to hide evidence in a civil lawsuit that alleges theft of township-owned fuel and the wrongful retention of hundreds of thousands of dollars in emergency service revenue.
The lawsuit, filed in Ocean County Superior Court, claims that Silverton First Aid Squad—also known as Silverton EMS—took more than 24,000 gallons of gasoline from township and Municipal Utilities Authority (MUA) fuel pumps, worth at least $72,000, while failing to pay required fees and improperly billing patients for services.
Township officials allege that the squad also kept all ambulance billing proceeds in violation of a shared services agreement that required an 80/20 split in favor of Silverton, with the township entitled to the remaining 20 percent.
The case, docketed as OCN-L-2730-24, is before Presiding Chancery Judge Craig L. Wellerson. The township is represented by attorney Donald F. Burke, a certified civil trial lawyer who filed a 90-page complaint detailing the alleged misuse of public fuel, the disputed billing practices, and a breakdown in transparency between the township and the squad.
Township outlines years of alleged fuel misuse and contract violations
Court filings trace the origins of the conflict to a 2019 shared services agreement approved by Toms River Township, which allowed Silverton EMS to operate as one of several first aid providers under municipal dispatch. The agreement entitled the squad to receive 80 percent of each EMS “load fee” billed to patients, with the township collecting the other 20 percent through its third-party billing vendor.
In exchange, Silverton was required to pay for its own fuel, repairs, and supplies.
The township now contends that Silverton breached that deal by using its own billing service to collect and keep 100 percent of patient payments starting in mid-2021—during the same period when Kevin Geoghegan, the squad’s president and business administrator, was serving as Toms River’s council president.
The lawsuit asserts that Geoghegan and others obtained key fobs that gave them access to township fuel facilities and that both ambulances and personal vehicles were filled using township fuel without payment.
This year, the Toms River MUA also launched its own investigation into ‘irregularities’ with fuel usage and revoked all existing key fobs, issuing new ones to authorized vendors.
Internal communications filed as evidence include a June 19, 2023 email from the township’s chief financial officer warning about “significant irregularities” in Silverton’s fuel usage.
Other exhibits show that the township’s billing revenue dropped sharply in 2021, coinciding with Silverton’s unilateral switch to its own billing vendor.
An email from the CFO dated December 15, 2021, questions why “no information has been submitted” by Silverton since June of that year.
The complaint also references an inquiry by a now retired Toms River police captain into “missing charges” for Silverton EMS calls, suggesting township officials had been tracking potential discrepancies for years.
Retired Toms River Police Captain Michael Miller spoke at a town hall meeting in 2024 to plead with the township to investigate the irregularities with the for-profit medical service operated by former Toms River Councilman Kevin Geoghegan.
Silverton EMS profits nearly doubled after alleged breach of contract and fuel theft
Financial records obtained from IRS filings show Silverton’s revenue nearly doubled in a two-year span—from $462,423 in 2020 to $1,134,815 in 2022—while salaries paid to staff and administrators rose from $275,000 to nearly $500,000.
The township argues that its 20 percent contractual share of those earnings would equal approximately $355,000 for 2021 and 2022, and projects that if 2023 and early 2024 revenues followed a similar pattern, the township could be owed more than $700,000 in total.
The township alleges that the business took that money which was to be paid to the township and grew their business, on the backs of Toms River Township taxpayers.
Department allegedly held fund raisers to ‘help with rising fuel costs’ despite getting free fuel from the township
Despite the alleged misuse of public fuel, Silverton EMS continued to publicly solicit donations, citing “rising fuel costs” as a financial strain. Township attorneys say that appeal misrepresented the squad’s situation, given the discovery that it had been using municipal fuel supplies free of charge.
Legal clash over transparency and nonprofit accountability
In response to a subpoena issued August 1, 2025, seeking Silverton’s full financial records, the squad’s accountant, Suplee, Clooney and Company, initially agreed to produce documents with limited redactions. The township consented to remove only personal identifiers, such as Social Security numbers. No mention was made of a protective order at the time.
Weeks later, Silverton reversed course, instructing the accountant not to release the records until the township signed a confidentiality agreement.
That shift prompted township attorney Burke to file an opposition brief on October 30, arguing the motion for a protective order was “untimely, unsupported, and inconsistent with the squad’s legal obligations as a nonprofit.”
Burke argued that Silverton’s finances are not entitled to privacy because, as a 501(c)(3) charitable organization, it is already required by federal and state law to publicly disclose its Form 990 tax returns and other financial information. He cited both Internal Revenue Code provisions and New Jersey’s Charitable Registration and Investigation Act, which mandate annual filings open to public inspection.
“The defendant cannot reasonably claim the same privacy expectations as an individual taxpayer,” Burke wrote. “Its financial condition, tax filings, and accounting records are subject to public oversight and transparency obligations as a matter of law and public policy.”
The township also noted that Silverton has already produced several tax filings during discovery, each labeled “Open to Public Inspection,” and therefore cannot retroactively claim confidentiality over similar records.
Township says protective order is a delay tactic
In its legal filing, Toms River accused Silverton of trying to “rewrite” the parties’ prior agreement on document production in an effort to delay discovery. Burke asserted that the squad had offered no evidence of “specific prejudice or harm” that could result from disclosure—an essential requirement for a protective order under New Jersey Court Rule 4:10-3.
Silverton’s brief reportedly relied on case law addressing personal tax returns, but the township countered that those precedents do not apply to charitable organizations whose operations depend on public trust.
“The defendant is not a natural person with privacy rights in personal income,” Burke wrote. “It is a public charity whose finances are reportable and reviewable by law.”
The township’s filing further claimed that the nonprofit’s request was “both moot and disingenuous” because many of the same financial materials were already part of the public record.
The township has asked the court to deny Silverton’s motion outright and compel immediate production of all subpoenaed documents with only the agreed-upon redactions.
Political and operational fallout
The lawsuit comes on the heels of a turbulent period for Silverton First Aid Squad, which has served the Silverton section of Toms River for decades.
In July 2024, shortly after the township ceased dispatching Silverton EMS calls, Geoghegan told a local news outlet that the squad had received fuel “from the township for 30 years.”
Township officials say that claim is inaccurate because the 2019 shared services agreement specifically required Silverton to pay for its own fuel.
The township stopped dispatching Silverton EMS following an internal review that uncovered what officials described as “alarming financial improprieties.” Since then, other EMS providers have absorbed calls in the Silverton area.
Geoghegan and Silverton EMS remained steadfast in their claim that they are innocent of all charges against them and said it was a political attack by the mayor.
Mayor Dan Rodrick would not comment on the matter at several public meetings when asked about the topic, citing an ongoing legal matter.
The case also has political undertones. Geoghegan, a former township council president and at-large council member, served in public office from 2020 through 2024, overlapping with much of the period in question.
The township’s filings do not accuse Geoghegan of criminal wrongdoing, but they do allege that he personally facilitated access to township fuel and oversaw billing practices that breached the squad’s contract.
What comes next in Ocean County court
Judge Wellerson has not yet set a hearing date on Silverton’s motion for a protective order. If the court sides with the township, Silverton’s accountant would be required to turn over all financial records subpoenaed in August, including detailed ledgers, invoices, and fuel reimbursement data.
If the judge grants the protective order, those records could be restricted from public disclosure, though they would still be available for use within the litigation.
The broader case seeks reimbursement for both the alleged $72,000 in stolen fuel and more than $700,000 in unpaid revenue under the shared services agreement. It also requests damages, costs, and any other relief deemed appropriate by the court.