NJ Education Report

This comes courtesy of the Perth Amboy Public Schools (Middlesex County), an Abbott district with about 10,000 kids and an operating budget of about $157 million. According to the Star-Ledger, Frank Gartland, an insurance broker for the school district, admitted in Superior Court that “his firm pocketed nearly $2.6 million from the Abbott school district, which received nothing in return.”

Also,

Gartland admitted he conspired with others to defraud the Middlesex County school district from 2003 to 2009. He also admitted to filing fake invoices and receiving payments of up to $180,000 from the district. In 2008, Gartland said, [fellow broker Frank] Cotroneo told him to submit invoices with small amounts to avoid raising suspicion… Some of the “stolen proceeds” went to cover Cotroneo’s bills, Gartland claimed. He wrote checks of $5,000 and $9,000 for Cotroneo’s custom motorcycle, $25,000 and $15,000 for a “female companion,” $50,000 for the landscaping and $7,500 for stables fees, he said.