Atlantic Highlands longshoreman's lavish life replaced with prison for no-show job

NEWARK – A longshoreman from Atlantic Highlands used to spend his workdays on the beach at Sandy Hook, on his yacht out of Atlantic Highlands, at the movies in Elizabeth and at the Loop Inn motel in Woodbridge, all the while collecting an annual salary approaching $500,000.



Now, Paul Moe, 66, of Atlantic Highlands, will spend the next two years in federal prison, after U.S. District Judge Katherine S. Hayden sentenced the longshoreman for wire fraud conspiracy and 13 counts of wire fraud.

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Hayden also ordered Moe, who was a general foreman for a terminal operator in Port Elizabeth, to pay $749,000 in restitution, said U.S. Attorney Craig Carpenito.

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Moe was convicted of the crimes at a trial in October in U.S. District Court, at which prosecutors presented evidence that he often spent his workdays on the beach, on his yacht, at the movies and at a Woodbridge motel. In fact, according to evidence presented at the trial, some of Moe’s workdays were spent in Florida and Aruba.

Meanwhile, Moe showed up at his job site for as little as eight hours a week while being paid for a minimum of 40 hours a week and as much as 16 hours of overtime a day, plus 48 hours on the weekends, authorities said. By having a conspirator file bogus time sheets for him, Moe racked up a salary of $9,300 a week, or almost $500,000 a year, authorities said.

"In truth, Mr. Moe appeared at the company's terminal infrequently and, when he did, he would typically remain three hours or less,'' an indictment against him said.



The scheme went on from September of 2015 through March of 2017, according to evidence presented at Moe’s trial.



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

More: Murders of Abbiegail Smith, Daniel Graves on the docket

More: Atlantic Highlands man skipped $500K job to go to beach, movies and sailing