Former Washington Township Councilman Admits To Stealing, Writing Bad Checks For $5.3 Million

A former state assemblyman from Bergen County plead guilty Friday to stealing and writing back checks for more than $5.3 million Attorney General Christopher S. Porrino announced.

Robert Schroeder, 56, of Washington Township, pleaded guilty to second-degree misconduct by a corporate official before Superior Court Judge Robert Reed in Somerset County. Schroeder represented the 39th Legislative District from 2010 to 2014, which includes portions of Bergen and Passaic counties.

A state investigation revealed that Schroeder operated four companies, All Points International Distributors, Inc.; Hercules Global Logistics, LLC; RS Consultants, LLC; and RGS Bergen, LLC. Through these companies, Schroder wrote at least 47 bad checks to 12 people who loaned him money for various businesses and to two companies that provided him with goods or services.

"He knew that the bank accounts against which he wrote the checks did not have sufficient funds to cover them," Porrino said in a news release issued by his office Friday.

One of the companies sold tents and prefabricated buildings to the United States military to use in Afghanistan, Iraq, and other international locations. As business began to decline after government contracts dropped off, Schroeder sought several short-term loans from individuals who were promised a high rate of return, the investigation revealed. As Schroeder fell behind on those loan payments, between October 2009 and August 2012, he wrote the bad checks, Porrino said.

The investigation also revealed that Schroeder stole nearly $1.9 million from at least five people, identified in the indictment only by their initials, who loaned him the money so Hercules Global Logistics LLC, could supply housing, catering, and other services as part of a base camp for an oil drilling project in North Dakota, Porrino said. He claimed he would finish the housing project by the end of 2012, but used the money for personal expenses and other debts.

Schroeder’s Assembly website states that he was “committed to the core values of fiscal responsibility” as an assemblyman. He was deputy Republican whip in the assembly. He also was a councilman in his native Washington Township in the 1990s before being elected to the Assembly.

Schroder was initially charged with passing bad checks on Aug. 3, 2012. Detectives searched his business headquarters in Hillsdale when he was arrested.

The corporations Schroeder ran also pleaded guilty Friday. Under the terms of the plea agreement, the state will recommend that Schroeder be sentenced to eight years in state prison. Schroeder must also repay the $5.3 million. Sentencing for Schroeder and the companies is scheduled for Dec. 22.

"While serving as an elected official in our state legislature, Schroeder lied to lenders, misappropriated funds entrusted to him, and willfully passed dozens of bad checks, all of which cost his creditors over $5 million," Porrino said. "Now he will go to prison, just like any other fraudster who engages in such devious and damaging misconduct."

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Photo: Robert Schroeder, 56, of Washington Township — Courtesy of New Jersey Attorney General's Office