NEWARK, NJ — A Toms River woman and former associate dean at Caldwell University has admitted her role in a scheme that diverted more than $24 million from the Post-9/11 GI Bill, Acting U.S. Attorney William E. Fitzpatrick announced.

Lisa DiBisceglie, 56, of Toms River, the former associate dean of the Office of External Partnerships at Caldwell University, and Helen Sechrist, 61, a former employee of the Pennsylvania-based company Ed4Mil LLC, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Katharine S. Hayden in Newark federal court to separate complaints charging them each with one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. Fitzgerald's office identified her as living in Lavallette, but her home address is in the Chadwick Beach section of Toms River, according to property records. Her mailing address is Lavallette because that U.S. Post Office serves Chadwick Beach.

The Post-9/11 GI Bill is a federal education benefits program designed to help veterans who served in the armed forces following the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001. It pays for tuition, housing costs, and other educational expenses as long as their courses meet certain criteria, Fitzgerald's office said. The funds are paid by the federal government directly to the school the veteran is attending. "DiBisceglie and Sechrist were part of an elaborate bait-and-switch scheme that stole millions of dollars in Post-9/11 GI Bill tuition assistance," Fitzpatrick said. "Instead of receiving a quality education under the Caldwell brand, the veterans that were recruited by Ed4Mil were enrolled in unapproved online courses without their knowledge, all while members of the conspiracy profited from their hard-earned benefits."



Fitzgerald's office alleges that from 2009 through August 2013, Ed4Mil founder and president David Alvey, 50, of Harrisburg, PA, along with DiBisceglie, Sechrist, and others, conspired to fraudulently obtain millions of dollars in tuition assistance and other education-related benefits under the Post-9/11 GI Bill. The charge and allegations against Alvey are still pending, Fitzgerald's office said.

Authorities allege DiBisceglie helped Ed4Mil get approval from Caldwell's administration to develop and administer a series of noncredit online courses for veterans in Caldwell's name. In order for the courses to be eligible for education benefits under the Post-9/11 GI Bill, DiBisceglie,

Alvey and others prepared and submitted an application with the Veterans Administration stating that the courses were developed, taught, and administered by Caldwell faculty and met Caldwell's stringent educational standards, authorities allege. As a result, the courses were subsequently approved, and Sechrist, Alvey, and others aggressively marketed the courses to veterans who were eligible to receive the benefits, Fitzgerald's office said.



However, Caldwell did not participate in developing or teaching the online courses. Instead, the veterans were ultimately enrolled in online correspondence courses developed and administered by a sub-contractor of Ed4Mil. Neither Ed4Mil nor its sub-contractor were disclosed to the government, and neither were eligible to receive Post-9/11 GI Bill benefits. DiBisceglie, Sechrist, Alvey, and others concealed the true nature of the courses from the government and the veterans who enrolled in the courses, Fitzgerald's office said. Thousands of veterans enrolled in the online courses believing they were taking courses from Caldwell, authorities said.