Ocean City Housing Authority Expected To Sever Executive Director Sharing WIth Brick: Official

BRICK, NJ — The Ocean City Housing Authority is expected to terminate a shared servicesagreement with the Brick Housing Authority and hire an interim director in the wake of a guilty plea by executive director Alesia Watson, who serves both, to embezzling funds from the Ocean City authority.

Watson, 54, pleaded guilty on Monday to embezzling federal funds from the Ocean City Housing Authority from 2013 to 2015, where she has worked as executive director since August 2013, according to the Ocean City authority's website. Brick Township Mayor John Ducey called for Watson's resignation in the wake of reports on Watson's guilty plea and her connection to Brick.

The Brick Housing Authority has scheduled a special meeting for 6:30 p.m. on Friday, May 12, in the David M. Fried Community Room at the Housing Authority complex at 157 Chambersbridge Road, Brick, to discuss Watson's fate in Brick.

Ducey, at Tuesday's council meeting, decried her actions, calling them disgusting and a violation of the public trust.

"She took from the vulnerable," Ducey said. "I hope she resigns before the hearing."

Federal authorities did not mention Watson's role with Brick in a news release on her guilty plea, nor has there been any indication from federal authorities of similar fraud in Brick. Ducey said the authority's finances will be examined to see if there is any evidence of wrongdoing there.

Regardless of what Brick's housing authority decides to do with Watson, Bob Barr, the chairman of Ocean City's authority, said he will recommend terminating the agreement with Brick and hiring an interim director until a permanent replacement can be found.

The two authorities first entered into the shared services agreement in late 2014, according to minutes of the Brick Housing Authority. That agreement brought Watson, who had been serving as the Ocean City executive director since August 2013, to Brick, which had been operating without a permanent executive director since 2012, when then-Executive Director Dennis Salerno retired. An earlier attempt, in September 2014, to sign on to a shared services agreement with Passaic for an executive director was never finalized amid rampant politcal rancor.

Ocean City paid Brick about $60,000 a year for the services of Watson, who served part-time for both towns. She was paid $95,830; it's not clear how much of Ocean City's share went to salary and how much for benefits. The shared services agreement was set to expire in February 2018, according to a Patch report. Both agencies administer affordable housing programs for low-income seniors, families and the disabled in their respective towns.

The Brick authority had a budget of $3,359,000 for the 2016-17 fiscal year that ends June 30, according to budget documents posted on the authority's website.

According to a report in the Press of Atlantic City, Watson, who was known previously as Alesia Humphrey, had four separate theft convictions since 1992, including one as recent as 2001. Watson — then Alesia Humphrey — worked for the Atlantic City Housing Authority from 2001 to 2007, serving briefly as executive director for five weeks before resigning after The Press of Atlantic City reported on those past convictions.

On the Ocean City authority's website, Watson's biography notes she started as an assistant buyer for the Atlantic City Housing Authority in 2000 and after receiving certifications in procurement from the Rutgers Center for Government, progressed to the position of Acting Executive Director. "Under her leadership at the authority, she was responsible for implementing the 'Stop Loss under Asset Management,' " the biography notes.

She also holds a bachelor's degree from Sojourner Douglas University and a master's in business administration from American Intercontinental University, according to her biography.

A news release from Acting U.S. Attorney William Fitzpatrick's office on the guilty plea said Watson had access to two credit cards maintained by the Ocean City Housing Authority and from December 2013 through March 2015, Watson purchased 69 MasterCard gift cards using the OCHA credit cards. She then used the gift cards for personal expenses not associated with OCHA or gave them to friends and family members, the release said. Watson then used federal funds received from HUD and administered by OCHA to pay the credit card bills associated with the purchase of the gift cards, Fitzpatrick's office said.

She is scheduled to be sentenced Aug. 15 and faces up to a year in jail and a fine of $100,000 or double the amount of loss or gain, Fitzpatrick's office said.

With additional reporting by Anthony Bellano (Patch Staff). Photo via the Ocean City Housing Authority website