The Red Bank trio who last year admitted defrauding Fort Monmouth out of close to $1 million through a no-show-jobs scam have been sentenced to federal prison, the Asbury Park Press reports.
The tally: 46 months for Michael Rzeplinski, a West Point grad and retired Army engineer; 12 months for Connie Davidson; and 18 months for her daughter, Kirsten Davidson, all three of whom reside at the Branch Avenue house shown here, or did at the time of their pleas last August.
From the Press account:
[U.S. District Judge Garrett E. Brown in Trenton] said this was “a particularly disturbing and serious pattern of crime that shakes the faith in government.” He added that such “blatantly corrupt crimes demand the most serious of punishments.”
Rzeplinski, 55, admitted last summer that in 2002 he used his position as a program director of the General Services Administration at the fort to arrange no-show jobs for Kirsten Davidson, 33, with a fort contractor. The arrangement netted Davidson some $283,000 for work she didn’t perform.
Rzeplinksi also admitted setting up a phony subcontracting firm that that bilked the fort out of $4,500 a month. Davidson admitted to her role in the no-show scheme. Her mother, Connie Davidson, 61, another fort employee, admitted she knew of the fraud but did nothing to stop it.
Rzeplinski bought the house, located at 192 Branch Avenue, in 2003 for $300,000. Monmouth County records show he transferred the deed to himself and the two Davidson women in early 2005.
In recent months, extensive renovations were made to the house, including the addition of a large garage, while the trio was out on bail. The Press report did not indicate if they are still free on bail or were remanded to prison.
