Heating Assistance Fraud Gets NJ Heating Oil Dealer 4 Years in Prison
For stealing from the state’s heating assistance program, a New Jersey heating oil dealer faces four years behind bars, and could be joined by others who have defrauded the state. (image: scrapetv.com)
Over the course of five or six heating seasons, Thomas J. Harris, the owner and sole proprietor of Harris Fuel Oil, defrauded New Jersey’s Home Energy Assistance (HEA) Program of nearly $400,000. After pleading guilty in 2009 to money laundering and misapplication of government property, Harris was sentenced to four years in prison on Thursday, according to a press release from the New Jersey attorney general’s office.
Harris Fuel Oil participated in the state’s Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP), which is one part of New Jersey’s HEA Program, and Harris’s scheme involved offering cash, rather than heating fuel, in exchange for heating assistance checks, provided that the cash amount was less than the value of the heating oil. The press release quotes Attorney General Paula T. Dow on the case:
“This heating oil supplier shamelessly exploited the low-income beneficiaries of the New Jersey Home Energy Assistance Program, enticing them to trade the assistance checks that were supposed to heat their homes for a reduced amount of cash, while he pocketed the difference,” said Attorney General Dow. “In doing so, he stole from the state and its taxpayers.”
Investigators found 259 cases from 2008 and 2009 in which Harris fraudulently gave cash for heating assistance checks. In those transactions Harris deposited $399,812 in HEA funds and distributed $247,700 in cash, leaving the remaining $152,112 for himself. In addition to prison time, Harris must pay restitution for the money that he took for himself.
Harris is involved in two related cases in which HEA administrators are implicated in defrauding the state. Constance Campbell has pleaded guilty to processing false applications for herself and her family, some of which were cashed with Harris, and still awaits sentencing; the state has asked for a five-year prison term. Nicole Victor has been indicted on similar charges, and was also accused of working with Harris to trade fraudulent assistance checks for cash.
While these investigations have uncovered a dismaying amount of corruption in New Jersey’s heating assistance program, the successful prosecution and sentencing point to a serious effort on the part of the state to ensure that energy assistance funds make it into the hands of those who need them. Stephen Taylor, director of New Jersey’s Division of Criminal Justice, promised continued vigilance in regulating heating assistance in the state:
We will continue to aggressively investigate and prosecute those who engage in this type of fraud, which drives up the cost of public assistance programs.
