TOMS RIVER, N.J. – A lawsuit over Silverton EMS, alleged fuel theft, and money is moving toward a part of civil litigation where dates, decisions, and the people who made them can become increasingly important.
Former Toms River Mayor Maurice “Mo” Hill has retained his own attorney in connection with the litigation involving Silverton First Aid Squad and its president and business administrator, former Council President Kevin Geoghegan, according to information provided to Shore News Network.
The development does not establish wrongdoing by Hill. It does, however, put renewed attention on the years covered by Toms River’s lawsuit — particularly the period when the township alleges Silverton stopped giving the municipality its share of ambulance billing revenue.
Hill was mayor then.
Geoghegan was council president.
The Timeline Goes Back Before Hill Took Office
The dispute didn’t begin with the current administration.
In 2018, then-Mayor Thomas Kelaher moved to stop township dispatching of Silverton EMS amid a financial dispute involving billing, gasoline and other issues. Kelaher, a former Ocean County prosecutor, left office at the end of 2019.
Hill and Geoghegan ran together in that year’s Republican municipal election.
A shared-services agreement involving Silverton had been executed in March 2019. Under its terms, according to the township’s subsequent lawsuit, Silverton was entitled to 80% of EMS load-fee revenue while Toms River received the remaining 20%. Silverton was responsible for its own fuel, repairs and equipment costs.
The political leadership changed in January 2020. Hill became mayor and Geoghegan served on the Township Council, eventually becoming council president.
Then comes mid-2021.
That date is central to the township’s allegations.
According to the lawsuit, Silverton began using its own billing company and stopped sending Toms River its 20% share of ambulance billing revenue. The township contends Silverton instead kept 100% of those payments.
Silverton and Geoghegan have disputed the township’s allegations.
A previous Shore News Network examination of Silverton’s financial records found that court filings place the billing change during Hill’s administration and Geoghegan’s time as council president.
The township alleges the arrangement ultimately deprived taxpayers of hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Township Records Show Questions Were Being Asked
The court record also contains documents indicating concerns existed before Hill left office.
A December 2021 email cited in the litigation questioned why Silverton had submitted no billing information since June of that year.
Another email, from the township’s chief financial officer in June 2023, raised concerns about what the township later characterized as “significant irregularities” involving Silverton’s fuel use.
Those dates fall within Hill’s administration.
The township’s complaint contends no council vote changed the revenue-sharing agreement and alleges the municipality made no effort during the prior administration to recover the disputed money.
Those are allegations being litigated in Ocean County Superior Court, not findings by a judge.
Hill’s involvement now takes on additional relevance because discovery is intended to establish what witnesses knew, what documents existed and when decisions were made.
Rodrick Administration Cut Off Silverton in 2024
The political landscape changed again after Daniel Rodrick defeated Hill in the 2023 Republican primary and became mayor in January 2024.
By July, the township stopped dispatching Silverton EMS.
“We’ve been advised by legal counsel that financial irregularities associated with Silverton EMS are potentially criminal, and the matter is being referred to the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office,” Rodrick said at the time.
“Given what we have learned, I had no choice but to take swift action,” he said.
Shore News Network reported the township’s decision to cut ties with Silverton when it happened.
Silverton pushed back. Geoghegan publicly welcomed scrutiny of the organization’s finances and maintained that the organization had done nothing wrong.
“If you’re saying I’m putting fuel in my personal vehicle, please sign a criminal complaint against me,” Geoghegan said during the dispute.
The township filed its civil lawsuit in October 2024.
Its allegations went beyond the ambulance billing dispute. Toms River accused Silverton of improperly using approximately 24,000 gallons of township gasoline and alleged that fuel fobs associated with Geoghegan had been used at municipal pumps.
The township seeks more than $2 million in damages and penalties in the case.
What Happened to the Prosecutor’s Referral?
The referral to Ocean County Prosecutor Bradley Billhimer remains separate from the civil lawsuit.
Toms River publicly announced in 2024 that it was referring the alleged financial irregularities to the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office.
The prosecutor’s office declined to say whether an investigation existed, citing its policy of neither confirming nor denying investigations.
There have been no publicly announced criminal charges arising from the Silverton referral.
That leaves the civil litigation as the proceeding producing documents, discovery disputes and testimony concerning what happened.
Silverton initially sought broad protections for financial information being exchanged in discovery. A Superior Court judge ultimately approved a narrower confidentiality order covering protected material while allowing the litigation to continue.
The case is OCN-L-2730-24.
Depositions Put the Hill Years Back Under Examination
Discovery has been underway for months.
In April, Shore News Network reported that the judge approved an extended discovery schedule that included deadlines for depositions and expert reports.
Now Hill has retained counsel in connection with the litigation.
The circumstances surrounding any deposition dispute — including precisely who sought Hill’s testimony, what objections were made and whether a court has ruled on them — need to be established through the court record before conclusions can be drawn about why the deposition process stopped.
But Hill’s potential testimony intersects directly with the township’s chronology.
He was mayor when the lawsuit says Silverton stopped sharing the load-fee revenue. Geoghegan was simultaneously Silverton’s president and business administrator and a member of the governing body.
The complaint alleges that Silverton began keeping all of the ambulance billing proceeds in mid-2021. Township correspondence cited in the case shows questions about missing billing information later that year, followed by concerns over fuel use in 2023.
Hill remained mayor through the end of that period.
The Rodrick administration took office in 2024, stopped dispatching Silverton, referred the allegations to prosecutors and sued.
That sequence is why the discovery phase could become more consequential than the political arguments that have surrounded the case since it began. Depositions can put former officials under oath and allow attorneys to ask who knew about the billing arrangement, whether anyone authorized a change, when township officials became aware revenue had stopped arriving and what, if anything, was done about it.
Silverton and Geoghegan will have their opportunity to challenge the township’s allegations as the case proceeds.
But the dates are already in the record.