South Plainfield Rec Director Arrested, Charged With Stealing

SOUTH PLAINFIELD, NJ — Yet another adult involved with rec sports in New Jersey has been arrested and accused of stealing from the team. And this latest arrest involves the former recreation director for the town of South Plainfield.

Kevin Hughes, 49, the former recreation director for the borough of South Plainfield, was arrested Wednesday, March 27 and charged with theft, financial facilitation and forgery, the Middlesex County prosecutor's office announced.

Hughes lives in North Plainfield. The money was stolen between 2013 and February of this year, the county prosecutor says. Hughes resigned from the job in February.

The county prosecutor says Hughes collected fees for the South Plainfield Recreation Department for various recreation as well as travel teams, and utilized the funds for his own use. In addition, he is accused of forging invoices to obtain monies for his own personal benefit. Between July 2013 and February 2019 — the month he retired — Hughes stole in excess of $75,000 from the South Plainfield Recreation Department, detectives say.

Hughes is only the latest adult in this state to be arrested and charged with stealing from youth sports:

In Woodbridge, a school secretary at Woodbridge High School was arrested this winter and charged with stealing money from the boys' soccer team. Police say that for more than a year, more than $6,000 received from student fundraisers, donations and club dues was electronically transferred from the boys' soccer team account into Stacey Castro's personal checking account. Read more: School Secretary Stole From Woodbridge Boys' Soccer Team: Police

In Toms River, a woman who was the president of the Pine Beach Elementary PTO was charged earlier this March with stealing more than $14,000 from the PTO's bank account. Jennifer Maguire of Beachwood made repeated cash withdrawals from the PTO account, which just happened to coincide with deposits into her personal checking account, the Ocean County prosecutor said. Maguire was arrested in early March and charged with theft. Read more: Former Pine Beach Elementary PTO Pres. Stole $14K In Funds, OCPO Says

And in tony Rumson, a 57-year-old Rumson dad who oversaw the Rumson football booster club was recently accused of stealing more than $25,000 from the football booster club between April 2017 and July 2018. Read more: Ex-Head Of Rumson-Fair Haven Touchdown Club Charged With Theft

Hughes held the position of director for the South Plainfield Recreation Department since August 1, 2006; he previously was the assistant director since June 1, 2005. He resigned from his position as recreation director on February 20, 2019.

Hughes was processed and released pending his initial court appearance in Middlesex County Superior Court on April 18.

Officially, Hughes was charged with one count of theft by unlawful taking in the second degree, one count of theft by failure to make required disposition of property received in the second degree, two counts of financial facilitation in the second degree, and four counts of forgery in the fourth degree.