Loganville Man Facing Federal Fraud Charges

NEWARK, NJ - A Loganville man was charged in a Federal court in New Jersey Friday for his alleged role in a scheme in which he received funds from a local government to author academic papers for one of its officials.

Isaac Newton, 52, was charged with one count of conspiracy to commit mail fraud and wire fraud, five counts of wire fraud, two counts of mail fraud and one count of unlawfully obtaining $5,000 or more from a federally funded local government. Newton pleaded not guilty to the charges while appearing on a videoconference before a federal judge, and he was released on a $100,000 unsecured bond.

Another man, Willis Edwards III, a public official in the local government of the City of Orange Township, NJ, was charged for his role in the scheme last year.

According to a release, one of Newton’s family members and Willis were enrolled together in a graduate program at a college in New Jersey. From June 2015 to June 2016, Newton and Edwards conspired to dupe Orange into making payments to Newton which were, in part, for academic papers Newton was writing for Edwards.

The court alleges Newton submitted three fraudulent invoices to Orange for payments of $12,000, $16,000 and $10,000 for "professional services." Orange paid the money to Newton.

Edwards allegedly plagiarized the papers written by Newton, passing them off as his own and asking professors to grade them so that he did "not receive a failing grade for all the hard work that (he had) done."

On Sept. 29, 2020, Edwards was charged in a 31-count indictment, several of the counts are related to the charges contained in Newton's indictment. Edwards' case is pending trial.

For Newton, each count of conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud is punishable by up to 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. The count of unlawfully obtaining more than $5,000 from a local government receiving federal funds is punishable by up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.