A former Waldwick Police Officer was sentenced to a year in jail Friday for working as a sheriff's officer in Georgia while claiming disability payments from New Jersey.
John Marion, 44, of Georgia. (Office of the Attorney General) TRENTON -- A former Waldwick Police Officer was sentenced to a year in jail Friday for working as a sheriff's officer in Georgia while claiming disability payments from New Jersey.
John Robert Marion, 44, stole more than $321,000 in disability pension payments while working full-time in Georgia, Acting Attorney General John J. Hoffman said.
Mercer County Superior Court Judge Peter E. Warshaw sentenced Marion to 364 days in county jail and four years of probation. He began serving the term Friday.
Marion pleaded guilty on Nov. 12 to a charge of theft by deception. He must pay $321,008 in restitution and is barred from public employment in New Jersey. He paid the first $100,000 on Friday.
He worked as a Waldwick Police Officer from 1998 through March 2008, when he retired on a disability pension, claiming medical and stress-related conditions. Starting in April 2008, he collected about $3,614 a month from the New Jersey Police and Fire Retirement System.
Since August 2009, Marion worked successive jobs as an officer at sheriff's offices in Clinch, Echols and Lowndes county in Georgia. He's currently suspended from a job as an investigator for the Lowndes County Sheriff's Office.
When the state Division of Pensions learned about his work in Georgia, Marion lied to an evaluator, saying he had not worked since his retirement, outside of jobs as a store clerk and delivering furniture for a relative.
"It's reprehensible that this officer, who took an oath to uphold the law, fraudulently collected hundreds of thousands of dollars from a disability pension on top of the full-time salary he received in Georgia," Hoffman said. "He selfishly drained away assets that are needed to pay the legitimate pensions of officers who courageously continue to serve the people of New Jersey."
Myles Ma may be reached at mma@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @MylesMaNJ. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
