Atlantic Highlands Union Member Convicted Of Wire Fraud

ATLANTIC HIGHLANDS, NJ — He works as a Newark longshoreman, but instead of going to his job every day, federal investigators say this Atlantic Highlands man hung out on his motorboat, went to the movies or lounged in a Woodbridge motel.

Atlantic Highlands resident Paul Moe Sr., 66, was convicted Tuesday, Oct. 31 of 13 counts of wire fraud and one count of wire fraud conspiracy, the Asbury Park Press reported. A jury deliberated for two hours and then found him guilty on all charges.

Patch wrote about Moe when he was first indicted: Moe was a general foreman for a terminal operator in Port Elizabeth and a member of the International Longshoreman’s Association, the longshoreman's union. He made about $500,000 per year. From September 2015 through March of this year, Moe fraudulently collected a compensation package that paid him almost $500,000 annually while showing up at his job site for as little as eight hours per week, federal prosecutors said. This went on for a year and a half.

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

Instead, Moe spent most of his workdays at Sandy Hook, the Loop Inn Motel in Woodbridge, the AMC Lowes movie theater in Elizabeth and on his yacht at the Atlantic Highlands Marina, as well as taking vacations to Florida and Aruba, the indictment said, according to the Asbury Park Press.

In order for Moe to collect his $9,300 weekly paycheck, other conspirators submitted false timesheets each day on his behalf and even credited him for up to 16 hours of overtime a day, they said. The 13 substantive wire fraud counts consist of one-week increments in which Moe – having either failed to appear at the job site or while being out of state or out of the country – was paid as if he had been on the job for a minimum of 40 hours a week.

Wikimedia Commons image of the Elizabeth container port.