Ocean Gate Mayor Admits To Pocketing Thousands Of Gov't Dollars

OCEAN GATE, NJ — Ocean Gate Mayor Paul Kennedy stole thousands of dollars meant for the local government over years, an affidavit obtained by Patch said. Kennedy admitted to an investigator that he pocketed this money and used it for his personal expenses.

The affidavit said that Kennedy was involved in theft of township property. Specifically, parking meter proceeds, property potentially being sold through his wife’s Facebook account and property auctioned off through GovDeals. Around ten thousand dollars were personally pocketed by Kennedy, according to the report.

Along with the parking meter proceeds, which the most recent collection had not been deposited and Kennedy still had in possession according to the affidavit, Kennedy sold a township conference table for $250 on Facebook Marketplace. He also auctioned off several township cars through GovDeals, a 2008 Honda Pilot in 2017 and two unspecified in 2019, and kept the proceeds resulting in checks deposited directly into Kennedy’s personal bank account, in the amounts of $6,031, $2,506.75 and $1,119.25. According to the affidavit, these three checks were endorsed by Kennedy and deposited directly into his TD Bank account.

Kennedy was arrested and charged on March 18.

Read More: Ocean Gate Mayor Arrested, Charged With Misconduct, Theft