Brick Mayor, Business Administrator Dropped From Ex-Super's Suit

BRICK, NJ — Brick Township Mayor John G. Ducey and business administrator Joanne Bergin have been dropped from a lawsuit filed by Walter J. Uszenski in over official misconduct charges filed against the former Brick schools superintendent.

Attorneys for Uszenski filed an amended complaint Wednesday that continues claims against the Brick Township Board of Education and the Ocean County prosecutor's office, following an agreement to dismiss the claims against Ducey and Bergin in the lawsuit, which alleges malicious prosecution and civil rights violations.

Uszenski and his daughter, Jacqueline Halsey, were arrested in May 2015 along with Andrew Morgan, accused in what then-prosecutor Joseph Coronato said was an elaborate scheme to provide Halsey with "taxpayer-funded day care" for her son, who has special needs. Morgan, who was interim director of special services in the Brick schools, and his wife, Lorraine, also were charged in connection with the alleged scheme.

Agreements earlier in June resulted in misconduct charges against Halsey, Lorraine Morgan and Andrew Morgan being dropped, while Uszenski will enter pretrial intervention. Andrew Morgan did enter a guilty plea to lying on his job application to the school district in connection with a 1990 criminal conviction for dealing cocaine.

The lawsuit filed by Uszenski and his daughter (and one filed by Lorraine Morgan) says it was the phone call by Ducey that led to the eventual charges — charges Uszenski's attorney alleges were retaliation because Uszenski had demoted Donna Stump, the former director of special services, in the wake of a $750,000 deficit caused by Stump's failure to submit invoices related to services for special needs students in the Brick schools.

Uszenski's original lawsuit included Ducey and Bergin, based on a meeting Ducey had with Stump and Marcella Butterly where the allegation was raised that Uszenski's grandson was being driven to a private day care on a district school bus.

According to the lawsuit, Butterly was the bus driver who drove the boy, who was receiving out-of-district special education services. Those special education services later were proven to be necessary, Superior Court Judge Patricia B. Roe said in a ruling dismissing the original indictment.

Township attorney Kevin Starkey, who announced the dismissal of the claims against Ducey and Bergin (who was included because she had been part of the meeting with Ducey and Butterly) at Tuesday's council meeting, said Ducey and Bergin never should have been included in the suit.

"That's the mayor's obligation, as the mayor of the township, to report an allegation" such as the one leveled against Uszenski, Starkey said.

The claims against Ducey and Bergin were dismissed with prejudice, said attorney Kevin Riordan, who represented the two in connection with the case, which means the claims cannot be brought by Uszenski and his daughter again.

Riordan said claims against Ducey in a lawsuit by Lorraine Morgan also were in the process of being dismissed.

Riordan said the motion by the attorneys for Uszenski and Halsey to amend the lawsuit is scheduled to be heard July 11.

The amended lawsuit names the members of the Brick Township Board of Education at the time — Sharon Cantillo, Karyn Cusanelli, John Barton, Michael Conti, Frank Pannucci Jr., Susan Suter and Vito Gagliardi Sr. (who filled John Talty's seat); district business administrator James Edwards; Coronato; former Assistant Prosecutor Michel Paulhus; Detective Ryan Mahoney of the prosecutor's office, and Butterly.

In addition to dropping Ducey and Bergin, the amended complaint also drops John C. Sahradnik, who was the school board attorney at the time, Donna Stump and her husband, James Stump.

Uszenski's lawsuit alleges he was targeted for retaliation because Donna Stump was demoted, and that Halsey was targeted because she was Uszenski's daughter and because she had advocated for services for her son.

The amended complaint alleges school district employees withheld information showing that Halsey's son had a special education classification and legitimate issues that needed treatment. "Had they told the truth to the Prosecutor's Office ... no criminal prosecution could have been possible."

Halsey, who moved out of state, had her career and reputation "utterly destroyed," the lawsuit says, including a neighbor telling Halsey's then 7-year-old daughter that her mother would be going to jail and would "lose weight because she will only be able to eat bread and water."

Since moving to Pennsylvania, her son has been placed in a special education program there.

A phone call placed late Thursday to Neil Mullin, the attorney representing Uszenski and Halsey in the lawsuit, seeking additional information was not returned.

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