Former Hillsborough School District Worker Pleads Guilty in Overtime Kickback Scheme
A former site supervisor for the Hillsborough Township School District in Somerset County, New Jersey, has pleaded guilty in federal court in Trenton to an overtime kickback scheme that cost the district more than $156,000, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of New Jersey announced.
Kenneth Gratto, 55, of Dingman's Ferry, Pennsylvania, pleaded guilty on October 22 before U.S. District Judge Robert Kirsch to embezzling, stealing, and obtaining by fraud more than $156,000 in funds belonging to the school district.
According to court documents, Aiman Mahmoud, the district's business administrator from 2008 through the end of 2021, oversaw a multi-million-dollar school construction and upgrade project approved by a 2019 referendum and arranged for Gratto to serve as site supervisor and owner's representative. Gratto admitted that shortly after he was hired, he agreed to pay Mahmoud substantial cash kickbacks in exchange for approval of time sheets that greatly exaggerated his overtime hours, billed at $150 per hour. Throughout the latter half of 2021, he regularly claimed more than 12 hours of overtime on both Saturdays and Sundays even though he performed no work on those days. After receiving paychecks from the project companies, which were reimbursed by the district, he deposited the checks, withdrew cash, and delivered it in an envelope at locations Mahmoud chose, typically inside Mahmoud's unlocked school vehicle. He admitted paying Mahmoud approximately $70,000 in kickbacks.
In total, Gratto admitted embezzling approximately $156,150 from the district and agreed to forfeit that amount. The charge carries a maximum of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Sentencing is scheduled for March 4, 2027. The case was investigated by the FBI's Newark office, Homeland Security Investigations, and the Somerset County Prosecutor's Office, and is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark J. McCarren. The charges against Mahmoud remain pending and are merely accusations; he is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：位于新泽西州 Trenton 的 Clarkson S. Fisher 联邦大楼及联邦法院一间法庭内景（资料图，本案认罪在此进行）。Carol M. Highsmith 摄，公共领域（美国国会图书馆藏），Wikimedia Commons。Photo: A courtroom inside the Clarkson S. Fisher Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse in Trenton, New Jersey (file photo; the plea in this case was entered there). By Carol M. Highsmith, public domain (Library of Congress), via Wikimedia Commons.
