Kim E. Bogan (Photo: NJ OAG)
Brick officials say the township has yet to see any restitution payments from Kim Bogan, the ex-employee who pleaded guilty to embezzling $941,354 by submitting phony insurance claims, even though she made an initial payment.
Bogan, the daughter of former mayor Joseph C. Scarpelli – who himself served a jail term on corruption charges – was released from prison last week, just 10 months into a five year sentence she received following a plea deal. Bogan was released under an intensive supervision program that allows her to be freed with the conditions that she obtain employment and wear an ankle bracelet monitoring device. But Bogan’s sentence also contained the order that she repay the township all of the money she funneled to her brother, a chiropractor in New York City who committed suicide months before Bogan’s arrest.
Bogan, whose employment with the township was terminated Aug. 18, 2017, made a $5,000 restitution payment when she was sentenced, but the money never made it to the township’s coffers, said Business Administrator Joanne Bergin.
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“At the time of her sentencing, she provided a first restitution payment of $5,000,” said Bergin. “That check was written out to the State of New Jersey, and we were hoping they would turn around and submit that to the township.”
State officials, however, instructed Bogan to rewrite the check to the order to Horizon Blue Cross-Blue Shield.
“We are obviously looking to confirm when that was credited or would be credited,” Bergin said.
Brick Township does not participate in the state employee health insurance plan. Instead, the township’s municipal government is self-insured. While Horizon acts as a plan administrator, medical claims are paid with township funds, meaning that any fraudulent claims were paid directly by taxpayers. Bergin said she suspects there may be some confusion on the part of state agencies as to how municipal self-insurance operates.
Township officials are working with their state counterparts to track the payment that was reportedly already made.
“[Bogan] was released on intense supervised probation, which has significant layers to it in order to be compliant with the program,” said Bergin. “A big part of this is how she intends to facilitate the restitution.”
According to prosecutors, Bogan, 53, pleaded guilty to second-degree theft by deception on Oct. 24, 2017. Under state law, she is ineligible for public employment in New Jersey. Shorebeat has contacted the relevant state agencies to determine the status of her pension.
During her plea hearing last year, Bogan, who worked in the township’s Building Department, admitted that between January 2011 and April 2017 she assisted her brother, Dr. Glenn Scarpelli – a chiropractor who committed suicide during the summer of 2017 by jumping out of a New York City building – in submitting false claims to her employee health insurance program. The claims were for treatments purportedly rendered to individuals covered under Bogan’s policy, however they were found to be bogus.
Scarpelli, Bogan’s father, served an 18-month jail term after admitting to extortion and bribery charges stemming from a relationship with an unnamed real estate developer in 2007.
