Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office

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

*News Release* Date: May 4, 2010

Plainfield schools superintendent; assistants, charged with theft

Middlesex County Prosecutor Bruce J. Kaplan and New Jersey Attorney General Paula T. Dow announced that the Plainfield schools superintendent and two assistants were charged today with stealing more than $10,000 worth of educational services by providing false documents to send two Perth Amboy children to school in South Plainfield.

A joint investigation by the Attorney General’s Division of Criminal Justice, the Special Prosecutions Unit of the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office and the South Plainfield Police Department began after the state Department of Education received information about the case.

As a result, Steven Gallon, (DOB 4/23/69) a South Plainfield resident and Plainfield schools superintendent, was charged with conspiring to commit theft by deception, theft by deception as an accomplice, and false swearing.

His assistants, Angela G. Kemp, (DOB 8/8/73) the assistant superintendent for educational services in Plainfield, and Lalelei Kelly, (DOB 3/1/76) who had worked as the district’s coordinator of assessment, data collection and school improvement, were charged with uttering false documents, theft by deception, conspiracy to commit theft by deception and false swearing.

Gallon was arrested at the Plainfield school board offices this morning and Kelly surrendered to police in Perth Amboy. Kemp was arrested this afternoon at her home.

Superior Court Judge Frederick P. DeVesa, sitting in New Brunswick, set bail for each defendant at $25,000, and ruled they may post 10 percent cash for release from custody pending further court action.

The three were charged after the investigation determined that on August 14, 2009, Kemp and Kelly, who were residents of the Somerset section of Franklin Township, enrolled their children in South Plainfield and provided false documents contending they lived in South Plainfield.

Kemp and Kelly also provided a sworn statement by Gallon, who falsely indicated that the women and their children lived with him at his home at 921 Brennan Court in South Plainfield.

In September 2009, the women and their children moved to Perth Amboy, but the children attended school in South Plainfield between September 2, 2009, and January 20, 2010, when their mothers removed them from the district.

The investigation showed that Kemp obtained $5,600 in educational services for her child during the enrollment period, while Kelly obtained $4,900 in educational services.

As is the case with all criminal defendants, the charges against Gallon, Kemp and Kelly are merely accusations and they are presumed innocent until proven guilty.

Additional Note:

Please be advised that after the original press release was sent, police arrested Kemp at her home in Perth Amboy.