By JOHN T. WARD
A Sea Bright man pleaded guilty to ripping off the Federal Emergency Management Administration via hotel charges he didn’t deserve, authorities announced Tuesday.
Bill Nagle, 52, of Center Street, admitted to a Superior Court judge in Freehold that he defrauded FEMA of more than $12,000 under a Transitional Shelter Assistance program, according to a press release by Acting Monmouth County Prosecutor Christopher Gramiccioni.
According to Gramiccioni, Nagle exploited the TSA, intended to provide shelter assistance to people displaced from their homes by Hurricane Sandy, accepting $12,114 to pay for 68 nights of hotel stays between mid-January and late March, even though his longtime apartment had been restored to habitability by the end of December.
According to the announcement, Nagles’ apartment building was damaged by flooding caused by the October 29 storm. The first-floor of the apartment was flooded, electrical service to the building was interrupted and the heat and hot water units for the building were damaged and needed to be replaced, rendering his third-floor apartment temporarily uninhabitable.
But the prosecutor contends that Nagle continued to accept federal housing funds, fraudulently, after the borough issued certificates of occupancy for the second- and third-floor apartments on December 29. That day, Nagle was advised by his landlord that his apartment was habitable, but failed to tell FEMA, and “repeatedly submitted” forms for assistance to cover his hotel bills, the prosecutor alleges.
As part of his plea deal, the prosecutor will recommend a probationary sentence conditioned upon 68 days in jail, and restitution totaling $12,114.25, when he is sentenced by Monmouth County Superior Court Judge Ronald Lee Reisner on April 17.
