Brick Schools Superintendent, Two Others Arrested, Charged In Day-Care Scheme

Brick Township Schools Superintendent Walter Uszenski, along with two others, was charged Thursday with official misconduct and theft by deception in a scheme to provide full-time, district-funded day care to his grandchild, the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office has confirmed.

Those arrested included Uszenski; his daughter, Jacqueline Halsey; and Andrew Morgan, the district’s former interim director of special services.

All three were charged with official misconduct and theft by deception for their roles in a scheme devised to provide Halsey’s child with educational services at public expense to which the child was not legally entitled, Ocean County Prosecutor Joseph D. Coronato announced.

Uszenski was arrested shortly after 9 a.m. at the Brick Board of Education administrative office, said Al Della Fave, spokesman for the prosecutor’s office. Morgan, accompanied by his attorney, William Strazza, turned himself into Ocean County Prosecutor’s office investigators at noon. Halsey was served her complaint summons at her home Thursday morning, he said.

It is alleged that Morgan, who became the interim director of special services in July 2013, engineered a plan to provide Halsey’s preschool-aged child with full-time day care and transportation at the school district’s expense by falsely claiming the program and services were educationally necessary, Della Fave said.

The investigation revealed that Halsey initiated and approved the improper request, and that both Morgan and Uszenski executed the necessary approvals required for the Brick Board of Education to fund the program and related services. The amount of fraudulent benefits conferred is believed to be nearly $40,000, Della Fave said.

Morgan, whose wife, Lorraine Morgan, is the district’s academic officer, was hired in March 2013 by the Brick Board of Education, at the request and recommendation of Uszenski, to conduct an “audit” of the Brick schools special services section. Uszenski and Morgan knew each other and had worked together before 2013.

The $17,499 “audit,” which is seven pages long, was critical of the job performance of the director of special services. Morgan was paid more than $83 per hour for 209 hours to prepare and write the “audit.” The “audit” also advocated saving the district money by providing services to special needs students in-district rather than sending those students out-of-district and paying private tuition, Della Fave said.

As a result of the “audit,” Uszenski recommended Morgan to the Board of Education to become the “Interim Director of Special Services.” The school board hired Morgan for that position. It is alleged that the “audit” was a pretense to position Morgan as the director of the special services section, he said.

Morgan began serving in that position on July 1, 2013. One of his first official acts was to engineer a fraudulent plan for Halsey’s child to receive unnecessary services and transportation at taxpayer expense, Della Fave said.

The prosecutor’s office alleges Morgan submitted false information in his application for employment with the Brick Board of Education. Morgan resigned from his position on Dec. 31, 2013. He received in excess of $60,000 in compensation from the Brick Board of Education between March 1 and Dec. 31, 2013, Della Fave said.

Uszenski, Morgan and Halsey have been charged with the second-degree crime of official misconduct and third-degree theft by deception. Uszenski’s bail has been set at $100,000 with no 10 percent option, by Superior Court Judge Francis R. Hodgson Jr. Uszenski was also required to surrender his passport as a condition of bail.

Morgan’s bail was set at $100,000 with no 10 percent option by Hodgson and required to surrender his passport as a condition of bail.

Halsey was released on her own recognizance.

The investigation is continuing. Anyone with any information is asked to contact Detective Ryan Mahony of the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office at (732) 929-2027.

EARLIER: Personnel from the Brick Township Police Department and the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office were at the district’s administration building Thursday afternoon, sources say.

Al Della Fave, spokesman for the prosecutor’s office, confirmed the presence of the prosecutor’s office but would not comment on the reason for their presence or the target of the investigation.

Investigators were at the administration building, on Hendrickson Avenue, for a few hours, sources said, collecting records and information.

Uszenski, who has been the superintendent for three years, was the target and was to be charged Thursday with embezzlement, sources said.

Two other individuals were expected to be charged as well, sources said.

Brick Township Police Chief Rick Bergquist declined to comment on the activity at the administration building.

A call to Sharon Cantillo, president of the Brick Township Board of Education, was not immediately returned.

Uszenski, 63, was hired as the Brick superintendent in May 2012, replacing Walter Hrycenko, who was demoted to assistant superintendent. He has lived in Brick for 18 years. Prior to coming to the Brick schools he was superintendent in the Spotswood school district in Middlesex County.

Uszenski’s four-year contract pays $175,000 per year as superintendent in Brick.

This is a developing story. Come back to Patch for further details as they become available.

(Photos: 1. Walter Uszenski, at a Brick Board of Education meeting, applauding during a presentation. Credit: Karen Wall. 2. Andrew Morgan, courtesy of the Ocean County Corrections Department)

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