Former Brick Housing Authority Director Ousted In Ocean City

OCEAN CITY, NJ — Alesia Watson, who resigned last Friday as executive director of the Brick Township Housing Authority, has been removed as the executive director of the Ocean City Housing Authority.

In addition, the Ocean City authority formally severed a shared services agreement with Brick that had governed Watson's service to both authorities.

The Ocean City authority's moves were expected in the wake of Watson's guilty plea on May 8 in federal court to embezzling between $6,500 and $15,000 from the Ocean City authority.

Watson, 54, who had previous convictions for theft, agreed to resign from her Brick Township post after nearly an hour of discussion in executive session between her and her attorney, John J. Zarych, of Northfield, and board of the Brick housing authority.

OCHA will conduct a forensic audit of its finances from Oct. 1, 2013-May 1, 2017, according to ocnjdaily.com. This covers the time Watson served as executive director for the Ocean City and Brick housing authorities. Watson served both housing authorities since 2013. Ocean City was paying $61,600 for Watson’s services, according to the minutes of OCHA’s Feb. 25, 2016 meeting.

On May 8, Watson admitted that from December 2013 through March 2015, she bought 69 MasterCard gift cards using OCHA’s two credit cards, according Acting U.S. Attorney William E. Fitzpatrick.

An interim executive director was not immediately named in Brick. Terry Brady, the attorney for the Brick Housing Authority, said who that person will be "remains to be determined." The board has a regularly scheduled meeting on Monday, May 22 at 6:30 p.m. in the community room at the Forge Pond Apartment building.

Photo of Alesia Watson via Ocean City Housing Authority website