It was a simple sleight of hand.

As motorists traveled through exits 3 and 5 on the New Jersey Turnpike, en route to Atlantic City or to the Burlington County suburbs, they handed toll tickets and fees to collectors at each off-ramp.

The stubs and spare change should have wound up in the hands of the New Jersey Turnpike Authority, but State Police say three veteran toll collectors were substituting short-ride tickets for the original tickets with higher tolls, and pocketing the difference.

Turnpike officials believe the scheme netted three South Jersey men roughly $10,000 so far this year, but today, police said, the plot came to an end when the trio were taken from their toll booths in handcuffs.

William Fagan, 62, of Clementon; Glenn Huryan, 55, of Magnolia; and John Filippine, 57, of Columbus in Mansfield Township — all toll collectors with more than twenty years on the job — were arrested Tuesday night and charged with theft.

"It’s surprising and sad to see three longtime Turnpike Authority employees put their pensions and benefits at risk like this," said authority executive director Ronnie Hakim. "We have no doubt that the vast majority of our employees are honest. Our customers should be assured that we have systems in place to catch the ones who aren't."

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Turnpike Authority spokesman Tom Feeney said the trio used excess toll tickets — all of which showed vehicles taking a $1 ride from Exit 3 in Camden County to Exit 5 in Burlington County — to alter the amount of money owed at their stations. After replacing the actual ticket stub with one of their own, the three men allegedly collected the real fee from drivers and pocketed the difference, Feeney said. All of the suspect transactions involved northbound trips, he said.

Exit 3 connects with the Walt Whitman Bridge to Philadelphia and the Atlantic City Expressway, while Exit 5 connects with Mount Holly and Willingboro.

It was unclear last night if the men were working together. Fagan collected tolls at Exit 3, said State Police spokesman Sgt. Stephen Jones, and Huryan and Filippine worked at Exit 5. All three earned roughly $66,000 a year, according to public records.

Feeney did not say how long the scheme carried on, but the turnpike’s internal audit system picked up on the alleged scam in mid-March.

Fagan and Huryan were arrested at their workplaces Tuesday night and charged with theft, said Jones, and Huryan was also charged with possession of marijuana.

Filippine tried to flee the Exit 5 toll plaza when he saw troopers arresting Huryan, said Jones, but a trooper pulled him over a short time later. Jones said Filippine also tried to discard some of the alternate stubs, and was charged with theft and evidence tampering.

All three have been released on their own recognizance, according to Jones. Attempts to reach the three were unsuccessful. They have been suspended from their jobs pending disciplinary action, said Feeney. When he was told of the arrests, State Transportation Commissioner Jim Simpson said his agency will have the men prosecuted "to the fullest extent of the law."

"The New Jersey Turnpike Authority takes this matter very seriously," he said. "Any theft of toll revenue amounts to stealing from our customers and casts a bad light on our many honest employees."

Franceline Ehret, president of the International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers Local No. 194, which represents Turnpike toll collectors, was stunned by the arrests.

"It’s been a few years since anybody full-time has been arrested," she said. "We tell people, ‘Don’t risk your job, it’s not worth it.’ A little bit of money is not worth your pension."

Ehret, who said she knows Filippine personally, described him as "one of those guys everybody likes."

The arrests came as toll collectors and the Turnpike Authority spar over plans to privatize toll collection on the Turnpike and Garden State Parkway this summer.

Experienced toll collectors make more than $65,000 annually, but the authority wants to bring in a private company that would pay toll takers about $25,000 a year.

Toll collectors say the authority has refused to negotiate with them, and the clock is ticking on their contract, which expires June 30.

By James Queally and Mike Frassinelli/The Star-Ledger