Mayor Accused of Selling Town’s Furniture on Facebook to Line in His Own Pockets
GOVERNMENT BUSINESS
The mayor of Ocean Gate, New Jersey, decided to make a little extra cash by selling his own office’s furniture on Facebook Marketplace and keeping the money for himself, Ocean County prosecutors alleged. Mayor Paul Kennedy was charged with theft and official misconduct Friday after he allegedly sold borough furniture, including some from his own office, on both a government auction website and Facebook Marketplace and chose to keep the money instead of turning it over to the borough. But it wasn’t just furniture. Kennedy allegedly pocketed some of the borough’s parking meter money as well, prosecutors said. Kennedy had previously been sued by local Democrats in 2015 for not disclosing four borough jobs on financial disclosure forms and refusing to step down from them once he was elected, according to NJ.com.