ESSEX COUNTY SHERIFF’S DOUBLE-DIPPING CHIEF SCAMS $860,000 FROM STATE PENSION FUND

New Jersey Watchdog reports:

Essex County Sheriff’s Chief John Dough is literally rolling in dough, thanks to a decade-long double-dipping scheme.

Dough has cheated a state pension fund out of $860,000, according to a New Jersey Watchdog investigation.

In addition to his $114,000 annual salary from Essex, Dough draws $77,500 a year from the state Police and Firemen’s Retirement System (PFRS). The key to the scam is a strategic fudging of his job title that has allowed him to trick the pension system.

When Dough retired in 2000 as a deputy chief of the Newark Police Department, Sheriff Armando Fontoura hired Dough as his new chief officer. As sheriff’s chief, Dough should have been required to re-enroll in PFRS and forfeit pension checks until he leaves the job, according to state rules.

Working class hero!