Pleasantville CFO Gets Jail For Stealing Money
On Friday, April 12, 2013, Pleasantville’s former chief financial officer, Ted Freedman, was sentenced to five years in state prison with a condition that he serve one-year without parole. Freedman is barred from ever working for a public agency in New Jersey and must repay the city over $9,500.00. He is required to forfeit his certified municipal finance officer certificate.
Freedman previously entered into a plea agreement where he pled guilty to the crime of official misconduct. Official misconduct occurs when a government employee commits a crime during their employment. The official misconduct statute requires a mandatory period of parole ineligibility of five years. However, Freedman entered into a plea agreement that reduced the mandatory minimum time to one year.
The attorney for Freedman argued that he paid back more than $17,000.00 of the $27,000.00 he stole before investigators arrested him in March, 2012.
Official misconduct is a very serious crime under the New Jersey Code of Criminal Justice. It typically requires a mandatory period of New Jersey state prison for anyone convicted of such crime. In this case, Freedman committed a theft offense while working as a government employee. His employment status elevated a theft crime to official misconduct.
