Atlantic Highlands Man Lied To Collect $500K Paycheck, Feds Say

ATLANTIC HIGHLANDS, NJ — The general foreman for a Port Elizabeth terminal operator, who lives in Atlantic Highlands, was arrested Thursday morning for fraudulently collecting a nearly $500,000 annual salary, much of which was for work he never performed, Acting U.S. Attorney William E. Fitzpatrick announced.

Paul Moe Sr., 66, of Atlantic Highlands, is charged in an indictment with one count of wire fraud conspiracy and 13 substantive counts of wire fraud. He appeared Thursday afternoon before U.S. Magistrate Judge Leda Dunn Wettre in Newark federal court and was released on $250,000 bond.

Moe is a member of the International Longshoremen’s Association. According to the indictment:

From September 2015 through March of this year, Moe fraudulently collected a compensation package that paid him almost $500,000 annually while showing up at his job site for as little as eight hours per week, federal prosecutors said.

In order for Moe to collect his $9,300 weekly paycheck, other conspirators submitted false timesheets each day on his behalf and even credited him for up to 16 hours of overtime a day, they said. The 13 substantive wire fraud counts consist of one-week increments in which Moe – having either failed to appear at the job site or while being out of state or out of the country – was paid as if he had been on the job for a minimum of 40 hours a week.

Each count is punishable by up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

He will be arraigned at a later date.

Wikimedia Commons image of the Elizabeth container port.