Court quashes suit vs. Pinay chairman of NJ-based NGO

JERSEY CITY — The Superior Court of New Jersey in Hudson County has dismissed theft charges against Lourdes P. Corrales, chair of the Community Development Center of the Philippine American Friendship Committee (PAFCOM).

Corrales was charged with allegedly depositing $11,016.86 in development grant from the Jersey City treasurer in her own separate account.

Edwin Solano, 2013 overall chair of PAFCOM, filed the complaint on July 24, 2013 with the Jersey City Police Department, West District.
 
Lourdes P. Corrales. Filipino Reporter photo
Solano alleged that the checking account opened by Corrales was separate and distinct from the organization’s community account.

On Nov. 21, 2013, a grand jury returned an indictment against Corrales on two counts of theft.

Superior Court Judge Joseph V. Isabella junked the complaint on March 17, 2014 as recommended by Assistant Prosecutor Steven Sciancalepore for “absence of evidence to establish that Ms. Corrales sought to deprive the PAFC of its property.”

“I’m glad justice was served and that my name was cleared,” Corrales said in a statement to the Filipino Reporter.

“I was falsely and unfairly accused of stealing money from PAFCOM,” said Corrales, who works as business development manager of Kwik Mortgage Corp. based in South Plainfield, N.J.

She has been a longtime CDC chairperson of PAFCOM, as well as its volunteer executive director.

Under its bylaws, CDC “manages and direct activities and finances of PAFCOM” aimed at providing community service to underserved populations in New Jersey, including Asian-Americans.

PAFCOM receives a yearly grant of $60,000.

In his dismissal memo, the prosecutor said evidence established that Corrales, as CDC chair, “had the authority to create and deposit monies into separate checking accounts so as not to commingle grant monies with general funds.”

The memo was endorsed to the court by Hudson County Acting Prosecutor Gaetano Gregory.

The Filipino Reporter tried to get a statement from Mario Garcia, PAFCOM president and overall chair, but he refused to issue one. –Filipino Reporter

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