Court date moved for
suspended employee
By mark rosman
Staff Writer
MANALAPAN — A suspended township employee who has been charged with falsifying a public document has had her court appearance adjourned to Sept. 9.
According to information obtained by the News Transcript, Jacqueline Matus of Red Bank has been indicted by a grand jury on one count of falsifying or tampering with records stemming from an incident that occurred on or about Jan. 17, 2001. The document was filed in Superior Court on June 30, 2003.
The document charges that Matus "did falsify, destroy, remove, conceal any writing or record or utter any writing or record knowing that it contains a false statement or information with purpose to deceive or injure anyone or to conceal any wrongdoing, to wit: a bond application with West-ern Surety Company, contrary to the provisions of (state law)…"
The News Transcript reported in its Aug. 6 edition that Matus was due to appear on court on Aug. 5. That date was later adjourned to Sept. 9.
The allegation contained in the indictment about a crime allegedly committed by Matus appears to indicate that she took that action less than a month after she was hired as Manalapan’s assistant treasurer on Jan. 2, 2001.
The document makes no mention of Matus’ alleged involvement in a case that saw almost $105,000 go missing from municipal offices in 2002. Instead, the indictment mentions an alleged crime that had not been reported on until the News Transcript published details about Matus’ indictment in its Aug. 6 edition.
In July 2002, approximately $105,000 in cash and checks was discovered missing from town hall. The cash and checks had been paid to the municipal court administrator and to the township tax collector.
In August 2002, Matus, who was Manalapan’s assistant treasurer, was arrested and charged with the formal charge of "theft by failure to make required disposition of property received." Matus was released on $20,000 bail and suspended without pay from her job.
No information was available from the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office regarding the disposition of that charge. An assistant prosecutor said Prosecutor John Kaye would not have anything to say about the matter.
Matus was hired in Manalapan on Jan. 2, 2001 and her annual salary was $31,200 at the time she was arrested and suspended from her position almost one year ago following the charge against her in the case of the missing municipal funds.
Cash and checks totaling approximately $105,000 were reported missing from town hall in early July 2002. Officials said the funds had been paid to the municipal court administrator’s office and to the tax collector’s office.
Matus was charged with the theft of $3,468 in court funds, of which $1,500 was cash and the balance, $1,968, was checks, Kaye said at the time of her arrest.