For those urging the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office pursue more prosecutions/stop amnesty

For all those who feel OCPO is not doing enough with regard to Lakewood Fraud prosecutions the answer is simple: We do not have access to the NJ State Comptroller Office program files. They oversee the programs application and implementation process. It is like any other victim of financial crime or fraud; we will not know they are victim of criminal activity unless they tell us.  If a victim comes forward, we investigate and prosecute on their behalf.

In terms of the Amnesty program that the NJ State Comptroller’s Office initiated: The amnesty program came from them. We have no authority to mandate or monitor how a state agency does business.

With regard to the recent Toms River Patch article (Fraud Prosecutions Deeply Detailed…): The reporter asked what went into a financial crime prosecution and we responded with an accurate description that would be no different if answered by any other prosecutors’ office. We did not solicit this article as a way to make excuses. For those who seemed to have completely missed it, our position is as follows: “If a case is brought to us we will prosecute.” Nothing unclear here.