Cranbury Township told its residents on Friday that it had lost about 26 million dollars in a fraudulent wire transfer more than five weeks earlier. The theft took place on September 28, when money intended to purchase property to satisfy the township’s affordable housing obligations was diverted, Mayor Lisa Knierim said in a letter to residents dated November 6, three days after the November 3 election.
A task force led by the Cranbury Police Department and the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office, with state and federal assistance, has frozen approximately 17.3 million dollars in assets. That leaves roughly 8.7 million dollars that has not been reported recovered or frozen. The criminal investigation is ongoing, and township officials have not disclosed how the theft occurred or whether any municipal employees were involved. Knierim said Police Chief Giuseppe DeChiara had kept the Township Committee informed throughout the investigation.
The letter did not explain why residents were not informed before the election, or whether the committee had considered disclosing sooner. The timing is politically exposed: the disclosure came after Democrat Thomas Szczur Jr., the mayor’s preferred candidate, defeated Republican Carol Haring by 63 percent to 37 percent, preserving the Democrats’ 5 to 0 majority on the Township Committee for another three years. Nothing in the reporting establishes that the election was the reason for the delay, and the mayor’s letter does not address the question.
The township’s stated response is administrative. At its November 9 meeting the committee plans to introduce ordinances creating two new posts, an assistant township administrator and an assistant chief financial officer, to strengthen financial oversight. It also plans to hire the accounting firm PKF O’Connor Davies for financial consulting and is exploring potential insurance recoveries.