2 Mercer Co. Employees Lied About Overtime Work For Payments: Feds

MERCER COUNTY, NJ – Two employees who worked for Trenton were charged by the federal government for falsifying overtime work to get paid, authorities said.

Martin Moore, 59, and Andre Trott, 51, fraudulently inflating the overtime hours they claimed to have worked conducting residential lead inspections and meal deliveries to Trenton residents, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger said.

Moore from Florence and Trott from Ewing are each charged with conspiracy to embezzle, steal, and obtain by fraud more than $5,000 in funds belonging to and under the care, custody and control of the city of Trenton.

Moore is also charged with making false statements to investigators.

The duo appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge Tonianne J. Bongiovanni in Trenton federal court and were each released on $50,000 unsecured bond.

Trenton’s Department of Health and Human Services (Trenton HHS) is required to provide services to identify lead sources in homes where children had tested positive for elevated levels of lead in their blood.

Beginning in 2018, a New Jersey state grant funded inspections of these Trenton properties. Trenton’s Bureau of Environmental Health (BEH) was responsible for performing these inspections.

Trenton received federal funding from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development under a Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) to provide public services, including a meal program to prepare and deliver meals throughout Trenton to the city’s most vulnerable and needy populations.

Members of BEH delivered meals under the CDBG from 2020 to 2021.

According to court documents, Moore, a principal registered environmental health specialist for BEH and the entity’s supervisor, and Trott, a senior registered environmental health specialist for BEH, conducted residential lead inspections with other members of BEH from February 2018 through May 2022, and delivered meals from April 2020 through May 2021.

Moore directed members of BEH, including Trott, Michael Ingram, William Kreiss, and Meraj Fatima, to obtain payments from Trenton for work they did not do, by fraudulently inflating the overtime hours, court documents said.

Moore also directed Trott, Ingram and Kreiss to inflate their overtime hours submitted for meal deliveries, according to court documents. Moore also falsely reported overtime exceeding the time it actually took him to complete activities related to lead inspections and meal deliveries.

In May 2022, when the FBI asked Moore about his role in connection with lead inspections, he lied that there was no situation where he had purposedly misrepresented his hours and no situation where he had claimed overtime hours for periods of time that he was outside of New Jersey, court documents said.

Moore faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and maximum fine of $500,000. Trott faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

Ingram and Kreiss pleaded guilty on Nov. 28, 2023, and Fatima pleaded guilty on Feb. 26, 2024, to separate information charging each with one count of conspiracy to embezzle, steal, and obtain by fraud more than $5,000 in funds belonging to and under the care, custody and control of Trenton. They are awaiting sentencing.

Have a correction or news tip? Email sarah.salvadore@patch.com