Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office

                                 25 Kirkpatrick Street, 3rd Floor, New Brunswick, New Jersey, 08901 (732) 745-3300

 

                                *News Release*         Date: September 28, 2010

 
 

 

 

 


Parking authority manager charged in missing funds case

 

 

          Middlesex County Prosecutor Bruce J. Kaplan and New Brunswick Police Director Peter Mangarella announced today that a New Brunswick Parking Authority manager has surrendered on a charge arising from an investigation into the disappearance of about $24,000 in parking fees.

 

          Michael Lapidus (DOB 10/21/76) of Milltown arrived at the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office on September 27, 2010 after he was charged on September 24, 2010 with one count of misapplication of entrusted funds.

 

Lapidus, employed as the financial operations manager for the parking authority, was expected to be released after posting 10 percent of $25,000 bail which was set by Superior Court Judge Bradley Ferencz.

 

Lapidus was charged following an on-going investigation by Lt. Daniel Del Bagno and Investigator Donald Heck, both of the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office.

 

During the investigation, it was determined that about $24,000 in parking fees paid by customers at the Wolfson parking deck on Neilson Street in New Brunswick between August 2007 and January 2009 never were deposited into a parking authority bank account.

 

The investigation showed Lapidus was responsible for collecting and depositing the payments.

 

Lapidus is the seventh parking authority employee who has been charged as a result of the continuing investigation into the theft of more than $100,000 in parking fees.

 

The investigation began after information developed by the New Jersey State Commission of Investigation was handed over to local authorities by Alan A. Rockoff, executive director of the SCI.

 

Anyone with information is asked to call Lt. Del Bagno or Investigator Heck at the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office at (732) 745-3300.

 

As is the case with all criminal defendants, the charges against Lapidus and the six other parking authority employees are merely accusations and they are presumed innocent until proven guilty.