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Acting N.J. Attorney General John Hoffman today announced an indictment against a former Piscataway middle school teacher who allegedly received more than $245,000 in N.J. disability pension while working as a full-time teacher in Virginia. (Star-Ledger file photo)

John Brishcar, 58, of Front Royal, Va., was charged Wednesday with theft by deception for collecting a N.J. disability pension while working as a full-time teacher in Virginia. (Courtesy of N.J. Attorney General's Office)

TRENTON

— A former teacher in the Piscataway School District has been indicted for stealing $245,000 by fraudulently collecting a disability pension from New Jersey while working full-time as a teacher in Virginia, state authorities said today.

John Brishcar, 58, of Front Royal, Va., who was a middle school science teacher in Piscataway, applied for disability in 2003 due to "prolonged stress and chronic back pain," the state Attorney General's Office said today. The application was approved in 2004.

Since that time, he has received $245,130 in monthly disability payments, even though he was allegedly working as a full-time teacher in Virginia. Brishcar began working as a substitute in West Virginia before filing his disability application, authorities said, and continued until 2005, when he accepted the full-time job, which he continues to hold.

“For anyone – let alone a teacher – to engage in this alleged conduct, which drained away assets needed to pay legitimate pensions, is completely unconscionable," acting state Attorney General John Hoffman said in a statement.

Brishcar now works as a sixth grade science teacher at Warren County Middle School in Front Royal, Va., according to the school's website. A representative of the district, Warren County Public Schools, did not immediately return a message seeking comment.

The indictment, handed up Wednesday by a state grand jury in Mercer County, charged Brishcar with theft by deception. If convicted, he faces five to 10 years in state prison. An attorney for Brishcar did not immediately return a message seeking comment.

The case was investigated by the state Division of Criminal Justice after a referral from the Pension Fraud & Abuse Unit in the state Division of Pensions.

Christopher Baxter may be reached at cbaxter@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @cbaxter1. Find NJ.com Politics on Facebook.