NJ Transit Worker Sold $700K In Agency Phones: Attorney General

BERGEN COUNTY, NJ — A Hackensack man was charged Monday for having stolen and sold hundreds of thousands of dollars in NJ Transit phones while he worked there, officials said.

Peejay Manila, 37, of Hackensack, who was hired by the transit agency in December 2019, has been charged with a second-degree and third-degree count of theft, and a count of receiving stolen property, said the New Jersey Attorney General's Office.

The state said the man sold NJ Transit-owned iPhones to cellphone buy-back companies, earning around $700,000 in profits.

He sold around 850 phones and other electronic devices, shipping them to a trade-in company from November 2020 through September 2024, the state alleges.

He was authorized to buy the phones for NJ Transit employees, the state says.

This past Thursday, law enforcement officials searched Manila's apartment, office, and vehicle, the state said.

They say they found approximately 20 cell phones — 11 new in unopened boxes in a closet, and nine in bubble wrap ready to be shipped to the buy-back outfit.

Records say Peejay served as the senior director, digital workspace at the agency, earning more than $167,632 back in 2022.

The Office of Public Integrity and Accounting Corruption Bureau investigated, resulting in the charges.

“As alleged, the defendant misused his authority to spend the public’s money, betraying his employer, his coworkers, and the people who ride NJ Transit,” said Attorney General Matthew Platkin.

Drew Skinner, executive director of OPIA, said, “As alleged in the complaint, instead of being used for the public’s benefit, the defendant sold them for personal gain.”

The second-degree charges carry a sentence of five to 10 years in state prison and a fine of up to $150,000. Third-degree charges carry a sentence of three to five years in prison and a fine of up to $15,000, the state said.