AG Platkin: Suspended NJ Department of Corrections Range Master Charged for Allegedly Selling State-Purchased Ammunition for Profit

TRENTON — Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin and the Office of Public Integrity & Accountability (OPIA) today announced the filing of criminal charges against a New Jersey Department of Corrections (NJDOC) lieutenant who served as NJDOC’s Range Master, after he allegedly stole state-owned ammunition from NJDOC and sold it for hundreds of thousands of dollars of profit.

Timothy Morris, 56, of Bayville, in Ocean County, New Jersey, has been charged by complaint with official misconduct (2nd degree), theft (2nd degree), and structuring financial transactions (3rd degree).

The charges result from the investigation by OPIA’s Corruption Bureau, the New Jersey State Police, and NJDOC’s Special Investigations Division into the defendant’s conduct as the NJDOC’s longtime Range Master. In that capacity, he was responsible for managing the agency’s firing ranges for its officers, including ordering ammunition and maintaining an inventory of it.  Morris has been suspended by NJDOC pending this case.

As alleged in the charges, the investigation revealed that Morris ordered excess ammunition that was resold by Morris to enrich himself.

“As the allegations in this case show, corruption is an expensive drain on public resources and victimizes taxpayers. My office refuses to accept that as business as usual.” said Attorney General Platkin. “The defendant allegedly abused his law enforcement position to steal from the public, and he tried to conceal it with financial transactions designed to fly under the radar.”

“As alleged, the defendant saddled the taxpayers of New Jersey with funding his unlawful side business while he pocketed the profits,” said Drew Skinner, Executive Director of OPIA. “Anyone who abuses the public’s trust and finances should know they will be detected and held to account.”

“Correctional police officers are sworn to uphold the law and when they violate their oath it erodes public trust,” said NJDOC Commissioner Victoria L. Kuhn. “I am proud of the work conducted by the Special Investigations Division in pursuing this investigation, and this administration will aggressively pursue any individual who violates the law and continue to uphold the highest standards of professionalism and integrity.”

Morris has served in the position of Range Master for the NJDOC since 2008, making him responsible for ordering and maintaining all of the ammunition kept and used at the four NJDOC gun ranges: Annandale in Hunterdon County (Northern Region), Browns Mills in Burlington County (Central Region), Maurice River in Cumberland County (Southern Region), and the Corrections Staff Training Academy in Sea Girt, in Monmouth County, as well as the ammunition at Special Operations Group Headquarters in Trenton, in Mercer County.

It is alleged that since at least January 2019, Morris has intentionally used his position as Range Master to order excess ammunition for the purpose of selling it on the secondary market in exchange for cash and check payments made directly to himself from a gun supply store.

The investigation revealed that the defendant profited in excess of $475,000 at the expense of the State through this years-long scheme.

In addition, it is alleged that Morris would structure the payments he received and the transactions he entered into at banks through sales of taxpayer-funded ammunition in order to avoid bank reporting requirements, which otherwise may have flagged the deposits. As alleged, the defendant cashed multiple checks at banks in a series of transactions designed to evade the $10,000 bank reporting requirement and other suspicious activity reporting requirements.

Second-degree charges carry a sentence of five to 10 years in state prison and a fine of up to $150,000. Third-degree charges carry a sentence of three to five years in prison and a fine of up to $15,000.

The Attorney General thanked the New Jersey State Police’s Official Corruption Bureau and NJDOC’s Special Investigations Division for their outstanding investigative work.

These charges are merely accusations, and the defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in a court of law.

Deputy Attorney General Richard Bobbe is prosecuting the case for OPIA, under the supervision of Assistant Attorney General Andrew Wellbrock, Deputy Corruption Bureau Chief Marian Galietta, Corruption Bureau Co-Directors Jeff Manis and Eric Gibson, and OPIA Executive Director Skinner.

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Defense counsel:
None listed at this time

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