By LOUIS C. HOCHMAN
hochman@montclairlocal.news
The owner and manager of a Paterson-based bus company that has previously served Montclair public schools were indicted Thursday — accused of hiring unqualified drivers, and providing school districts with false information to cover it up.
A-1 Elegant Tours, doing business under the name Eastern Star Transportation, failed to conduct mandatory drug tests and criminal background tests for its drivers and aides, the state Office of the Attorney General said when announcing the indictment Thursday. The owner, Shelim Khalique, 52, of Wayne, and the manager, Henry Rhodes, 57, of Paterson were both initially charged in June of last year.
Montclair district officials said in 2019 the company was one of 25 serving the district through the Essex Regional Educational Services Commission. Montclair Superintendent Jonathan Ponds’ hasn’t yet returned a message seeking information on how recently the company was transporting Montclair students, or whether any of certain specific incidents described by the AG’s office involved service to the district.
Personnel files seized in 2019 showed many of the company’s drivers didn’t have commercial driver’s licenses or required endorsements, had suspended licenses, and/or had criminal records, the AG’s office said. A-1 also employed bus aides with criminal records, it said.
It said many files were missing records of fingerprinting, background checks and drug testing. Two bus drivers were charged with driving buses for A-1 with one or more children on board while under the influence of narcotics, according to the AG’s office. One of them crashed the bus. Another former driver is a registered sex offender, the AG’s office said.
A press release from the AG’s office and the indictment didn’t specify where those incidents occurred, and the AG’s office said it couldn’t release more information than in the charging documents.
A-1 had contracts with public schools in Essex, Hudson, Passaic and Union counties from 2016 through 2020, but the the indictment only involves the contracts in Essex County, the AG’s office said. In all, the company had contracts with a total value in excess of $1 million with various public school districts in Essex County during that time period, the AG’s office said.
Khalique and Rhodes face charges of conspiracy in the second degree, false representation for a government contract in the second degree, theft by deception in the second degree, tampering with public records of information in the third degree, falsifying or tampering with records in the fourth degree and misconduct by a corporate official in the second degree.
They were charged in an investigation by the Office of Public Integrity and Accountability, New Jersey State Police, Essex County Prosecutor’s Office, and Passaic County Prosecutor’s Office.
“This indictment is an important step in our prosecution of these defendants, who we charge jeopardized the safety of children and lied to conceal their egregious conduct,” Attorney General Grewal said in the statement from his office.. “The defendants allegedly had unqualified drivers, convicted felons, and narcotics users drive and supervise children— frequently in unsafe buses. We’ll continue to investigate and aggressively prosecute this type of criminal conduct, because we have no higher priority than protecting children.”
Patrick J. Callahan, superintendent of the New Jersey State Police said it was “painfully apparent that the operators of this company lost their moral compass, putting profit above safety by placing innocent children on buses unfit for the road, which were operated by unqualified drivers, who in many instances had criminal records.”
“The idea that anyone would allow young school children to be transported by drivers who not only lacked the proper credentials but, in some cases, were high on narcotics or had serious criminal records is extraordinarily troubling,” acting Essex County Prosecutor Theodore N. Stephens, II said.
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March 26, 2021 at 05:19AM
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Bus company that has served Montclair schools had unqualified drivers with criminal records, AG says - Montclair Local
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