Joe Malinconico and Rodrigo Torrejon, Paterson Press and North Jersey Record

PATERSON – A safety check of school buses in Newark on Friday found eight drivers from a Paterson-based bus company who did not have proper credentials and three employees with active arrest warrants, authorities said.

New Jersey State Police and the Essex County Prosecutor's Office then conducted a search of the Paterson offices of A-1 Elegant, which had been embroiled in controversy in its work for the Paterson school district. The Paterson district issued more than 100 violations against the company during the 2017-18 school year, including problems with the credentials of its drivers.

The story continues below the video.

Two bus drivers and a bus aid were taken into custody on active warrants. Kathy Carter, spokeswoman for the Essex County Prosecutor's Office, said she did not have further information on the warrants as of late Friday afternoon.

The eight drivers found without proper credentials were more than half of those checked by authorities Friday.

Inspections were conducted at five locations in Newark as part of an ongoing investigation into school bus safety there.

A-1 Elegant last September agreed to relinquish 35 Paterson school bus route contracts worth $1 million at the start of the 2018-19 school year. The company gave up those contracts as part of a deal to get the Paterson school district to drop its efforts to have the firm disqualified as a busing vendor.

The company continued to handle routes for other school districts this year.

A-1 Elegant’s owner, Shelim Khalique, did not answer a call to his cell phone seeking comment for this story. Khalique is the brother of Paterson’s 2nd Ward councilman Shahin Khalique.

Paterson:16-year-old boy fatally shot in the head in Paterson

History:How bomb blasts a century ago launched the Red Scare and a raid against Paterson anarchists

Saying goodbye:Fans share WPLJ moments as it goes off air for good — the 1st time since John Lennon died

Last September, Shelim Khalique said he thought his business was being unfairly targeted by political opponents of his brother. A-1 Elegant had worked for Paterson schools for 17 years, Khalique has said.

When Carmen Garcia, an A-1 Elegant bus driver, came in to pick up her paycheck on Friday morning, she was greeted by five or six police officers and was asked for her ID.

Garcia said she didn’t know what happened, nor was she told, she said. She was not allowed into her boss’ office.

She hadn’t even received word if her usual route at 2 p.m. Friday was canceled, she said.

Disgruntled bus drivers gathered in a lot across the street from the bus company, claiming that when they tried to cash their checks, they all bounced.

“We got paid today and they froze our accounts,” said driver Stanley Brooks. “So none of us are getting our money today. We don’t know where the owner is.”

At 12:10 p.m., investigators began loading computers, boxes and garbage bags into a truck marked Essex County Prosecutor’s Office. Officers also wheeled two filing cabinets into the truck.

At about 12:40 p.m., investigators cleared the scene.

State education department officials said A-1 Elegant has bus contracts this year with the school districts in Jersey City, Newark, and the City of Passaic, as well as with the Essex County Educational Services Commission and the South Bergen Jointure Commission.

The Paterson school district did not issue any comment about the search at A-1’s office. Two district officials said they believe the investigation did not directly involve A-1’s work for Paterson schools.

Prior to the dispute last year, which resulted in A-1 surrendering its Paterson bus route contracts, the district and the company had other problems.

In October of 2017, the district fined the company $7,800 and took away two routes worth $92,000 after buses failed to pick up students in multiple instances.

During the 2016-17 school year, the district issued $17,000 in fines and issued 48 violations against A-1, according to public records. Those figures represented the greatest amount of fines and the largest number of violations among the more than 10 companies that had busing contracts with the district that year.

Those violations included 20 for not having security cameras in buses, 16 for lateness, five for problems with driver or vehicle credentials and three for not having bus aides, public records show.

Staff Writer Joshua Jongsma contributed to this article.