HILLSBOROUGH TOWNSHIP, N.J. (Somerset County) — A former Hillsborough Township School District worker has pleaded guilty to embezzling more than $156,000 through a fraudulent overtime scheme that involved paying approximately $70,000 in cash kickbacks to the district’s former business administrator, federal prosecutors announced Tuesday.
Kenneth Gratto, 55, of Dingmans Ferry, Pennsylvania, pleaded guilty Monday, Oct. 26, before U.S. District Judge Robert Kirsch to embezzling, stealing and obtaining by fraud funds belonging to the Hillsborough Township School District in Somerset County, according to U.S. Attorney Robert Frazer.
The scheme involved a multimillion-dollar school construction and renovation project approved by voters in a 2019 referendum, which included upgrades to existing school facilities and construction of a new school building. According to federal prosecutors, Aiman Mahmoud, who served as the district’s business administrator from 2008 through the end of 2021, helped oversee the project and arranged for Gratto to be appointed as a site supervisor and owner’s representative…