LAWRENCE — Former Mayor Mark W. Holmes Sr., has been indicted on 42 counts of official misconduct, fraudulent use of a credit card and theft by deception as a result of actions he took while he was the executive director of the Asbury Park Housing Authority.
The 42-count indictment was handed up on Monday by a Monmouth County grand jury, according to the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office. Mr. Holmes held the executive director’s post at the housing authority from November 2008 to June 2011.
The 54-year-old Lawrence resident was indicted on 22 counts of second-degree official misconduct, 16 counts of third-degree misconduct, one count of second-degree pattern of official misconduct, two counts of third-degree fraudulent use of a credit card and one count of second-degree theft by deception, according to the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office.
The Asbury Park Housing Authority’s board of directors asked the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office to investigate its finances after a review of the authority’s 2009-10 audit revealed suspected financial irregularities. The irregularities were called to the board of directors’ attention by its auditor.
Mr. Holmes served on the Lawrence Township Council from 1998 to 2008. He served as mayor in 2004 and 2008. His term on Township Council would have expired in December 2009, but he resigned because of personal and professional commitments.
A few months before Mr. Holmes became the housing authority’s executive director, he received a $99,897 grant from the state Department of Labor and Workforce Development. The money was to be used to provide training in computers and other marketable skills for Asbury Park public housing residents.
While Mr. Holmes was serving as executive director, the housing authority received more than $75,000 from the state as part of the $99,897 training grant. He transferred more than $58,000 to the Asbury Park Housing Authority Community Development Corp., which he created.
But instead of using the money for training purposes, allegedly Mr. Holmes used the money to fund a $50,000 salary increase for himself without the approval of the housing authority’s board of directors, according to the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office.
Mr. Holmes also opened up credit cards in the name of the Asbury Park Housing Authority and the Asbury Park Housing Authority Community Development Corp. Allegedly he used the cards for personal expenses, and changed the mailing address for the bills so they would be sent directly to his home in Lawrence. He ran up more than $30,000 in debt.
During his tenure as the housing authority’s executive director, Mr. Holmes took more than 30 business trips across the country. According to the prosecutor’s office he received per-diem payments up front from the housing authority before he left on those trips, totaling more than $22,000.
The $22,000 in up-front funds was intended to pay for meal expenses. But even though he received the money before embarking on business trips, Mr. Holmes received duplicate reimbursement from the housing authority for the meals upon his return.
Mr. Holmes also used housing authority money for personal expenditures while he was traveling, such as spa treatments, hotel in-room movies and gentlemen’s clubs, the prosecutor’s office said. He used housing authority funds at least three times to pay for stretch limousine service to take him and his family to and from the airport.
Mr. Holmes used more than $13,000 of Asbury Park Housing Authority money for unauthorized meal expenses in Asbury Park and Lawrence Township, according to the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office.
If Mr. Holmes is convicted of the second-degree official misconduct charges, he could face up to 10 years in state prison. The third-degree official misconduct charges carry prison terms of up to five years.
The official misconduct charges also are subject to a mandatory period of parole ineligibility, as well as the forfeiture of any state pension benefits and a lifetime ban on public employment in New Jersey.
Conviction on the charge of pattern of official misconduct means Mr. Holmes would face up to 10 years in prison. The fraudulent use of a credit card carries a three- to five-year sentence, and the theft by deception charge carries a five- to 10-year prison term.
