The first of what is expected to be many guilty pleas involving New Jersey school athletic administrators came down last week, when former Long Branch High School athletic director Charles Ferrara, Jr. pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit mail fraud.
Ferrara is the first casualty of the major federal investigation into the illegal bid rigging and phony invoice process that Circle Systems Group of Easton, Pa. was allegedly involved with for many years.
Circle Systems Group handled a lot of the athletic equipment reconditioning for most of Hudson County’s athletic programs, especially the area football teams.
David Drill, the former president of Circle Systems Group, pleaded guilty two years ago (December of 2008) to fraud conspiracy, admitting in federal court in Newark that he had been involved with several illegal activities involving New Jersey schools.
Drill admitted to creating fake invoices, overbilling school districts for reconditioning work that was not done, and creating fake price bids to districts who required a bidding process, with the lowest bid getting the contracts and then giving kickbacks, such as cash, clothing, sporting goods and other items to athletic administrators in return to allow the process to go on.
In federal court two years ago, Drill admitted that the procedures had been going on in New Jersey, especially several northern New Jersey school districts, for the better part of the last 20 years.
Drill then agreed to cooperate with the federal authorities in return for a lesser sentence.
It led to a major upheaval in several school districts, including the entire athletic departments in the Jersey City public high schools.
A year ago, a raid at all four of the major high schools saw the computers confiscated and records were turned over as part of the investigation.
It is believed that two prominent Jersey City Board of Education officials are implicated in the investigation for receiving a host of kickbacks from Drill, ranging from cash, winter clothing, leather jackets and golf clubs.
But no word of the investigation had been released by federal officials until the guilty plea of Ferrara on Monday morning. All news regarding the investigation had come to a complete crawl until news of Ferrara’s guilty plea was released.
Federal prosecutors claimed that Ferrara had conspired with Circle Systems Group with the illegal invoice submission and fake bids on equipment.
For example, Ferrara submitted an invoice for $12,000 of football equipment restoration, when only $7,300 of the work was actually done. In return, Ferrara received two personal computers and some video games, as well as allegedly receiving some cash bonuses.
Ferrara will be sentenced Feb. 22 and can face as much as five years in prison.
Now that Ferrara’s case has come to light in federal court, reports have it that the two Jersey City Board of Education officials will be given their chance to plead guilty to similar charges or eventually face trial.
According to federal officials who requested anonymity, Ferrara’s guilty plea is “the first of many.”
“I fully expect others to fall in line now, once the first one has been brought to court,” the federal official said.
Which means the shoe is about to fall on the two from Jersey City – and perhaps others in Hudson County as well. Stay tuned…
It’s been a year of big-time honors for legendary St. Anthony basketball coach Bob Hurley, who earned a spot in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in August, had a street named after him in his native Jersey City in October and now adds the prestigious Lapchick Character Award.
Hurley received his award last Thursday at Madison Square Garden, along with fellow Hall of Fame coaches Gene Keady and Jody Conradt.
“It’s quite a trifecta,” Hurley told reporters after receiving the award.
Past recipients include Lou Carnessecca, Dean Smith, John Thompson, Pat Summitt and Jack Curran, the long-time coach at Archbishop Molloy High School in Queens.
Keady was the long-time head coach at Purdue and recently joined the staff at St. John’s with Steve Lavin. Conradt, a pioneer of women’s college basketball, coached at Texas for 31 years and led the Longhorns to an undefeated national championship.
Hurley was chosen because he exemplified the spirit and the character of legendary coach Joe Lapchick, who coached both at St. John’s and with the New York Knicks…
It almost got lost in the shuffle a little, but the McNair Academic girls’ soccer team had a great season, winning 14 games, including two games in the NJSIAA North Jersey Section 2, Group II playoffs.
The Cougars defeated Fort Lee, 5-1, and Lyndhurst, 1-0, before falling to Caldwell in the sectional semifinal round. It marked the first time that the school won two rounds in the girls’ soccer state playoffs.
“Part of what we battle throughout the season is getting the girls to believe that they can compete,” said McNair Academic head girls’ soccer coach John Hughes. “Sometimes, they don’t have that confidence, but once you step outside of the county and have a little success, then it opens their eyes. Hopefully, there will be a positive carryover to the younger girls. Our goal was to do well in the county [tournament] and the states. We wanted to be in the Final Four in both.”
It marked the first year that McNair Academic competed in the Group II playoffs. Ever since the school was formed in the late 1970s, it has been a Group I enrollment school.
“It makes it even more of an accomplishment,” Hughes said.
The Cougars were led by senior Jessica Melendez, who had 25 goals, and junior Brianna Miller, who had 23 goals and 16 assists.
Brianna’s twin sister, Brooke, was the anchor of the team’s defense at sweeper, while older sister Brittany, a senior, was the team’s goalkeeper. So it was all about the Miller family this fall at McNair.
“We moved Brooke to sweeper this year and expected our defense to be a liability,” Hughes said. “But that was not the case. We had a solid defense that progressed nicely as the season went on. The girls did a great job.”
Unfortunately, the Cougars’ accomplishments were lost in the shuffle of all the football excitement…
While we’re on the topic of McNair Academic, there were two other points of interest.
Veteran coach Mike Reilly, who has been coaching and teaching at McNair for more than 30 years, recently reached a very impressive milestone. He won the 100th match of his career as the girls’ tennis coach, giving Reilly at least 100 wins in four different sports at the school, namely boys’ soccer, boys’ basketball, baseball and girls’ tennis. It says a lot about Reilly’s longevity, but it also speaks volumes about his dedication to the kids of McNair Academic…
Reilly pointed out that his top tennis player this season, Yumi Hinnenkamp, broke the school record for wins in a career, totaling 60 wins as a singles player and another 21 in doubles…
And while we’re on the subject of McNair Academic, the boys’ cross country team fared very well this season, finishing fourth overall in Group I, just missing out on a chance at competing in the NJSIAA Meet of Champions.
Sophomore Kevin Ratigan was ninth overall in Group I, followed by freshman Omar Lopez, who came in 11th and junior Allen Walton, who came in 16th place.
By finishing ninth in the Group meet, Ratigan earned a berth at the Meet of Champions last Saturday and placed 113th in the entire state. It also shows that coach Matt Hogan’s team has a ton of promise for the future…–Jim Hague
Jim Hague can be reached at OGSMAR@aol.com.