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APPEAL FILED IN BRICK OFFICIAL MISCONDUCT CASE

Ocean County Prosecutor Joseph D. Coronato announced today that his office has filed an appeal with the Appellate Division of the New Jersey Superior Court regarding the trial court’s decision to allow Lorraine Morgan into the Pretrial Intervention Program over the objection of the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office.

Lorraine Morgan is the former Academic Officer of the Brick Township Public School System. She was indicted in September of 2015 on a charge of third degree Official Misconduct for her role in allegedly approving payment for unnecessary in-home counseling services for the superintendent’s grandson. Her husband, Andrew Morgan, the former Interim Director of Special Services, former Brick superintendent Walter Uszenski, and Uszenski’s daughter, Jacqueline Halsey, were indicted on official misconduct, theft and related charges in connection with a scheme to provide the superintendent’s grandson with free daycare and transportation at public expense.

If convicted of that offense, Ms. Morgan faces a mandatory period of incarceration which requires at least 2 years of parole ineligibility.

Lorraine Morgan had filed an application for entry into Ocean County’s Pretrial Intervention Program. That program allows pretrial diversion for certain offenders, which if successfully completed, allows the individual to avoid prosecution and a criminal conviction. The State objected to Morgan’s entry into the program because her charge is based on a violation of the public trust in that she is alleged to have abused her public position to confer an illegal benefit upon the superintendent’s grandson. Superior Court Judge Patricia Roe allowed Morgan to enter the program over the State’s objection on March 17, 2016. The State asked Judge Roe to reconsider that decision. On May 3, 2016, Judge Roe affirmed her decision to allow Ms. Morgan into the Pretrial Intervention Program.

By filing the appeal, the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office is seeking to bar Ms. Morgan from participating in the Pretrial Intervention Program.

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