Kenneth Culligan Cannot Hold a State Office or Job and Can No Longer Gamble In New Jersey
Kenneth Culligan, a former New Jersey State Court vendor, was sentenced on June 13 to five years of probation for misappropriating public funds to fuel his gambling addiction. Culligan took an additional $74,000 in public funds over a three-year period during the time he was responsible for collecting judgments.
The 54-year old Evesham man pleaded guilty misappropriating entrusted property in October 2014 and has been awaiting a sentencing ever since. The court ordered Culligan to pay $44,201 in restitution to the state. Also, he is barred from holding public employment in New Jersey in the future. The deal also keeps him from holding public office in the state of New Jersey.
Lifetime Ban from NJ Casinos
Mr. Culligan also goes on the exclusion list for gambling for the remainder of his life. New Jersey residents have the right to place themselves on a self-exclusion list for a 1-year, 5-year, or lifetime ban from the casinos. In certain court cases, a person is placed on the list by the judge. Culligan is banned from gambling in licensed online gambling sites in New Jersey, along with the brick-and-mortar casino industry.
During the time the crimes were committed, Kenneth Culligan worked as an independent vendor for the state Superior Court vicinages in Burlington and Camden counties. He collected debts owned by debtors, while disbursing debts owed to creditors on behalf of the court.
Also Charged with Deception and Computer Theft
On June 19, 2014, Culligan was charged with deception, elements of computer theft, and misapplication of entrusted property. At the time that the charges were announced, he was considered a fugitive from the law. Soon after, Culligan was arrested.
He was never a vicinage employee. Instead, Culligan was an independent contractor given the right to collect and process payments from debtors. As part of his contract, he was given the right to a special fee on each transaction, which amounted to a commission on each transaction.
2011 Audit Revealed Wrongdoing
An audit was performed showed that Kenneth Culligan began stealing commission money from August 2009 onward. He had either “illegally comingled” or took $74,383 from the state, beyond the agreed-upon commission. When the audit was complete in January 2011, the New Jersey court said Culligan could no longer perform his job.
The initial investigation in the case was conducted by the Burlington County Prosecutor’s Office Financial Crimes Unit, which certain assistance rendered by the New Jersey Administrative Office of the Courts.
Public Officials and Problem Gambling
The Kenneth Culligan case is by no means the first case involving public officials who misappropriate funds to fuel their gambling habit. Several times every year, a story comes to light of an official who mishandled money for the sake of gambling. Last month, it was learned a high school ball coach and manager at a VA hospital gift shop in Michigan took several hundred thousand dollars for the sake of their gaming habit. A police officer and Sunday preacher in Miami took bribes from a sports betting ring. A Nevada official sold state-owned equipment on Ebay to pay for his gambling habit.
Giardina Fake Chip Scandal
Problem gambling can affect anyone. For instance, Rear Adm. Timothy M. Giardina is alleged to have designed his own fake $500 poker chips for gambling at the Horseshoe Casino in Council Bluffs, Iowa. The now-retired admiral appears to have doctored a $1 chip with paint and stickers, hoping to pass it off as a $500 chip. Giardina is thought to have taken such desperate measures to feed a gambling habit.
The remarkable thing is Giardina was the number 2 in chain-of-command for the US military’s nuclear arsenal, as a key official at Stratcom in Omaha, Nebraska. Giardina had been vetted like few government employees ever will be, yet here he was allegedly passing fake chips at a casino in Iowa. The chip scandal ended a decorated and honorable 35-year career in the U.S. military. Therfore, the Kenneth Culligan case is just another in a long line of officials who came to a bad ending due to out-of-control gambling.
