Newark Daycare Center Operator Pleads Guilty to Stealing $234K

The former executive director of New Africa Day Care Center in Newark pleaded guilty Monday to stealing $234,664 in public funding, Attorney General Paula T. Dow and Criminal Justice Director Stephen J. Taylor have announced.

Muslimah Suluki, 63, of College Park, Georgia, pleaded guilty before Mercer County Superior Court Judge Pedro J. Jiminez Jr. to second-degree charge of theft by failure to make a required disposition of property received. Suluki and her co-defendants diverted the public funding from the now defunct non-profit daycare center, which was located on South Orange Avenue, for their personal use.

"This defendant was supposed to be in the business of helping young children in Newark to get a stronger start in life, but instead she diverted state pre-school funding for her own selfish purposes, including luxury cars and vacations," said Dow.

A state investigation revealed Suluki and her ex-husband Mahdi Suluki, 69, of East Orange, stole thousands of dollars in state funds and used them to purchase two Jaguars and vacations in Chicago and Hyannis Port, Mass. Suluki and her son Robert Parrish, 47, of Neptune, diverted funds from New Africa Day Care Center to Aziz Learning Center, a for-profit daycare center in Neptune from which they withdrew funds.

The Newark daycare center, which averaged an enrollment of about 45 children, was probed when the Department of Education discovered questionable expenditures and reported them to the Attorney General's office. New Africa received more than $1.8 million in public funding during the years it operated, and also received Abbott pre-school and daycare funding from the New Jersey Department of Education and the state Department of Human Services, respectively.

"In partnership with the Department of Education and other state agencies, we will remain vigilant to prevent abuse and theft involving state programs and funding," said Taylor. "We must ensure that taxpayer dollars are used for their intended purposes."

Under the plea agreement, the state will recommend Suluki be sentenced to four years in state prison and she must pay restitution of $234,664 to the Department of Education. The June 14, 2006 indictment, obtained by the Division of Criminal Justice, names Suluki's ex-husband, her son and New Day Africa Care Center Inc., the corporate owner of the center.

Mahdi Suluki, who served as a consultant and board member of New Day Africa Day Care Center, fled New Jersey after pleading guilty on July 21, 2008 to stealing private donations to the daycare center. He and Muslimah Suluki were arrested in North Carolina in January 2010. Mahdi Suluki was sentenced in June of last year to four years in state prison and was ordered to repay the stolen donations.

Parrish was convicted as an accomplice of third-degree charges of theft by failure to make a required disposition of the property, misconduct by a corporate official, and failure to file a state income tax return for 2002. He was sentenced to five years probation in October 2008, contingent upon serving 200 days in Mercer County Jail.

Suluki is scheduled to be sentenced on Sept. 7.