Judith Erk, the former Director of the Haledon Free Public Library, was arrested on Friday, April 29, 2011 in Passaic County on charges that she misappropriated funds belonging to the public library for her own personal use.  Erk was charged with second degree official misconduct and second degree theft by deception.  Both of these charges carry up to ten years in prison, with a presumption of imprisonment.

According to the Passaic County Prosecutor’s office, law enforcement executed a search warrant on Erk’s home in North Haledon, where they recovered items that were allegedly purchased with library funds, including electronics, kitchen appliances, jewelry and a faux fire place. Ms. Erk is the former Director of the Haledon Free Public Library. Currently Ms. Erk is employed as an assistant librarian at Manchester Regional High School in the borough of North Haledon.  Bail in the case was set by the Honorable Harold Cook of the North Haledon Municipal Court at $50,000 with no 10% option.

Ms. Erk was arrested and charged with one count of Official Misconduct in violation of N.J.S. 2C:30-2, which provides:  “A public servant is guilty of official misconduct when, with purpose to obtain a benefit for himself or another or to injure or to deprive another of a benefit: a. He commits an act relating to his office but constituting an unauthorized exercise of his official functions, knowing that such act is unauthorized or he is committing such act in an unauthorized manner; or b. He knowingly refrains from performing a duty which is imposed upon him by law or is clearly inherent in the nature of his office.  Official misconduct is a crime of the second degree. If the benefit obtained or sought to be obtained, or of which another is deprived or sought to be deprived, is of a value of $200.00 or less, the offense of official misconduct is a crime of the third degree.”  Police are alleging that the value of the benefit received by Erk in this case was over $75,000, therefore, the official misconduct is a second degree crime in this case.  As noted above, second degree crimes carry a state prison term between five and ten years, with a presumption of imprisonment.

Erk was also charged with one count of Theft by Deception in excess of $75,000 in violation of N.J.S. 2C:20-4, which provides: “A person is guilty of theft if he purposely obtains property of another by deception. A person deceives if he purposely: a. Creates or reinforces a false impression, including false impressions as to law, value, intention or other state of mind, and including, but not limited to, a false impression that the person is soliciting or collecting funds for a charitable purpose; but deception as to a person’s intention to perform a promise shall not be inferred from the fact alone that he did not subsequently perform the promise; b. Prevents another from acquiring information which would affect his judgment of a transaction; or c. Fails to correct a false impression which the deceiver previously created or reinforced, or which the deceiver knows to be influencing another to whom he stands in a fiduciary or confidential relationship.”  Any theft in an amount over $75,000 is graded as a second degree crime.

As this case illustrates, theft offenses generally are treated as very serious in New Jersey.  When, as in this case, the alleged theft involves the misuse of a public position, theft offenses are treated that much more seriously.  It will be interesting to see in this case what evidence the State has that the items that were seized during the execution of the search warrant were actually purchased with public library funds.  That will be the key issue in this case.  Anyone charged with a crime in New Jersey should contact a New Jersey criminal defense lawyer for representation.

Welcome to the Jersey Lawyer. Let me tell you a little bit about myself. My name is Nace Naumoski and I’m a lawyer from New Jersey. I run a law firm named the Law Office of Nace Naumoski. Until very recently, I worked for one of the biggest and best law firms in the State of New Jersey. I opened the Law Office of Nace Naumoski because I wanted to take what I learned working at a big firm and bring it to a broader clientele.

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