Former Wall schools super goes to prison

FREEHOLD – The case against former Wall schools superintendent James Habel could be summed up in one word: greed --an assistant prosecutor told a judge Friday.

Habel, 59, paid the price for that greed Friday when Superior Court Judge Ronald L. Reisner sentenced him to five years in prison without the possibility of parole for lying about vacation days to get extra cash payouts.

Reisner imposed the prison term on Habel for official misconduct, ordered him to forfeit his pension and banned him from ever again holding a public position in New Jersey.

But Habel, as superintendent of the Wall Township school system,once had it all, said Melanie Falco, an assistant Monmouth County prosecutor.

He had a waterfront home in Point Pleasant worth more than $500,000, Falco said.

He had another waterfront home worth $750,000 in Dunedin, Florida, she said.

With extra perks taken into consideration, he earned about $300,000 a year, Falco said.

Habel had almost $1 million in retirement savings, Falco said.

“He didn’t even have to buy his own car,’’ she said, noting that the Wall school district bought a $60,000 Yukon Denali for Habel’s use and even paid for its satellite radio.

“But it was never enough,’’ Falco said.

So, Habel took trips to Florida but never reported the vacation days he spent there, so he could later get cash payouts for unused vacation days, Falco said.



Habel's trial earlier this year lasted more than two months, but Falco summed it up in one word - greed.

"This defendant decided, for whatever reason, for himself, that he was to answer to no one,'' Reisner said before he imposed the prison term on Habel. "The jury found that he was guilty of official misconduct. ...There is a strong need to deter this defendant in particular and all people who hold public office not to engage in this kind of conduct."



Habel, dressed in a navy blue suit although shackled, turned his back to the courtroom gallery throughout the entire proceeding, which lasted about two hours. He declined, barely audibly, when the judge asked him if he had anything to say before he was sentenced. The defendant appeared notably thinner than when he stood trial earlier this year before Superior Court Judge Francis J. Vernoia, who has since been transferred to the Appellate Division of Superior Court.

At the trial, Falco and John Loughrey, a senior litigator in the Monmouth County Prosecutor's Office, argued, among other things, that Habel took 105 vacation days, spending many of them in Florida, but he did not report the vacation time to the school district, so he could later get cash payouts for unused vacation days.

A jury convicted Habel on March 10 of official misconduct and four counts of falsifying records.The falsified records related to Habel’s reports of the personal mileage he put on the Denali.



Reisner imposed four, concurrent one-year prison terms for each of the falsified records convictions. He denied a request by Falco to order payment of $86,503 in restitution to the Wall school district for the vacation days he later took cash payouts for. The judge said he could not order the restitution because the jury did not convict him of a theft.

The panel acquitted Habel of one theft count and one count of destruction of files. It could not reach a unanimous verdict on money laundering and another theft charge. The state later agreed to dismiss the charges on which a verdict was not reached.

Habel’s attorney, Edward C. Bertucio, asked the judge to exercise his right to waive the mandatory, five-year period of parole ineligibility and instead place Habel on probation.

“He’s spent nine months in the county jail, which has been hell on earth for him, which he’s tolerated honorably,’’ Bertucio said. “He would be an excellent candidate for probation. Hope springs eternal that I can convince you of my position.’’

But Falco said the state legislature had people just like Habel in mind when it enacted laws covering official misconduct. She asked the judge to send the same message she believes the jury did with its verdict: “Enough with public corruption; enough with greed at the expense of educators and children; enough already.’’

Bertucio said Habel had no prior criminal record.

“He was an educator for decades,’’ Bertucio said.

Falco said any good Habel may have done during his years as a teacher and school principal ended once he became superintendent.

“His greed overtook everything else’’ she said. "And that is the legacy he now leaves.’’

Habel served as schools superintendent in Wall from March 2003 through his retirement in 2012. He earned annual salaries ranging from $145,000 to $225,000 during that time.

Bertucio argued extensively to keep his client out of prison, saying incarceration would be a hardship for Habel because of his health. Falco retorted that hip-replacement surgery never stopped Habel from playing golf in Florida.

The defense attorney said prison would pose a financial hardship to Habel’s wife. Falco said the defendant’s wife is a corporate executive who “does very well for herself’’ and for years lived on her own in Florida.

Bertucio asked the judge to allow Habel to be freed pending the outcome of an appeal of the case, but the judge told the defense attorney he would first have to file the appeal before he would consider that.

At the onset of the court proceeding, Bertucio asked Reisner to declare a mistrial because the attorney who represented Habel at his trial, Robert A. Honecker, had a conflict of interest as the acting county prosecutor in office at the time when the investigation into Habel began in 2005.

Reisner rejected a similar argument two weeks ago, saying that Habel missed the deadline to ask for a new trial. Reisner did not backpedal on Friday. But he said the conflict could be a viable issue for an appeal of Habel’s conviction to the state Appellate Division.

Reisner noted that the prosecution listed Honecker as one of the potential witnesses in its case. He said that likely sent the message to jurors, “If the prosecutor is going to call the defendant’s own lawyer (to testify), for heaven’s sake, he must be guilty.’’ Allowing Honecker to remain on the case may have been an error warranting reversal of the conviction, Reisner said.





Kathleen Hopkins: 732-643-4202; Khopkins@app.com