TRENTON, NJ — Attorney General Gurbir Grewal announced March 2 that the owner of a Paterson-based school bus company, its manager and the company were indicted for allegedly providing false information to school districts — including in Essex County — in connection with contracts to cover up the fact that the company hired unqualified drivers, failed to conduct mandatory drug testing and criminal background checks for drivers and aides, and operated unsafe buses, all in violation of contract terms and state requirements.
The defendants were initially charged by complaint-summons on June 25, 2020. On March 2, 2021, a state grand jury indicted the owner, Shelim Khalique, 52, of Wayne; the manager, Henry Rhodes, 57, of Paterson; and the company, A-1 Elegant Tours Inc., doing business as Eastern Star Transportation LLC, on following criminal charges: conspiracy in the second degree; false representations for a government contract in the second degree; theft by deception in the second degree; tampering with public records or information in the third degree; and falsifying or tampering with records in the fourth degree. Khalique and Rhodes are also charged with misconduct by a corporate official in the second degree.
They were charged in an investigation by the Office of Public Integrity and Accountability, New Jersey State Police, Essex County Prosecutor’s Office and Passaic County Prosecutor’s Office.
Personnel files seized in 2019 during execution of a search warrant reportedly revealed that A-1 employed many drivers who did not have valid commercial driver’s licenses or required endorsements, had suspended licenses, and/or had criminal records. A-1 also reportedly employed bus aides with criminal records. A number of files were missing mandatory records of fingerprinting, background checks and drug testing. Two bus drivers were charged with driving buses for A-1 with one or more children on board while under the influence of narcotics; one of them crashed a bus containing 12 Newark elementary school students in February 2019. Another former driver is a registered sex offender.
On May 31, 2019, investigators conducted surprise motor vehicle inspections of A-1’s buses at various schools after they dropped off students in the morning. Almost all of the buses failed inspection so badly that they were impounded and were not allowed to be driven off the school properties.
“This indictment is an important step in our prosecution of these defendants, who we charge jeopardized the safety of children and lied to conceal their egregious conduct,” Grewal said. “The defendants allegedly had unqualified drivers, convicted felons and narcotics users drive and supervise children — frequently in unsafe buses. We’ll continue to investigate and aggressively prosecute this type of criminal conduct, because we have no higher priority than protecting children.”
“The criminal conduct alleged in this case came to our attention when there were incidents in Essex County of school bus drivers operating under the influence or without the proper credentials,” Essex County acting Prosecutor Theodore Stephens II said. “The idea that anyone would allow young school children to be transported by drivers who not only lacked the proper credentials but, in some cases, were high on narcotics or had serious criminal records is extraordinarily troubling.”
From 2016 to 2020, A-1 had contracts with public school districts in Essex, Hudson, Passaic and Union counties. The indictment relates exclusively to contracts in Essex County. In the aggregate, A-1 had contracts with a total value in excess of $1 million with various public school districts in Essex County during the time period in question.
Second-degree crimes carry a sentence of five to 10 years in state prison and a fine of up to $150,000, while third-degree crimes carry a sentence of three to five years in prison and fine of up to $15,000.
The indictment is merely an accusation and the defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proved guilty in a court of law.
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