School bus company charged with fraud, theft days after USA TODAY NETWORK report – Asbury Park Press

NEWARK – Just two days after a USA TODAY NETWORK investigation into the “rogue operators” in New Jersey’s private school bus industry, the Attorney General’s Office has charged one of the companies highlighted with contract fraud, theft by deception and other charges after allegedly hiring unqualified bus drivers and failing to perform background checks or drug tests.

From 2015 to 2020, F&A Transportation — also doing business as Smart Union, Inc. — allegedly “knowingly hired drivers who did not hold valid commercial driver’s licenses or required license endorsements, as well as drivers who had criminal histories or were using illegal drugs,” New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir Grewal said in a news release. 

The company also falsified vehicle inspection forms to indicate that the buses passed required inspections, he said. F&A Transportation and Smart Union held about $3.5 million in contracts with school districts in Essex, Passaic, Morris and Union counties, he said. 

The charges against F&A Transportation and its owners, Ahmed Mahgoub, 62, his wife, Faiza Ibrahim, 47, come just two days after the USA TODAY NETWORK Atlantic Group published an investigation into New Jersey’s private school bus industry and the “rogue operators,” as one peer referred to them, who take advantage of the state’s lax school bus safety laws to hire unqualified or dangerous drivers and leave children in danger. 

“This is the second time in four months that we have filed serious criminal charges against a school bus company and its operators for allegedly putting children in jeopardy by hiring unqualified drivers, using unsafe buses, and falsifying records to cover up their conduct,” Grewal said. “No parent should have to worry about the condition of their child’s school bus or question whether their child’s bus driver might be a felon or someone under the influence of drugs or alcohol. No child should ever be put in danger that way. 

“We’ll continue to take strong action to investigate and prosecute any bus company operators who flout the laws and requirements put in place to protect our children.”

EXCLUSIVE: 5 takeaways from our investigation into NJ school bus safety

F&A Transportation was charged with 2nd-degree charges of theft by deception, conspiracy and false representations for a government contract, as well as a 3rd-degree charge of tampering with public records or information. Mahgoub and Ibrahim were both charged with misconduct by a corporate official, a 2nd-degree offense. 

One incident highlighted by both the USA TODAY NETWORK and Attorney General’s office is a February 2019 crash involving F&A employee Lisa Byrd, who was revived with Narcan after she crashed a bus carrying 12 special needs students in Newark.

Byrd, who did not have the required “S”-endorsement required of all school bus drivers, pleaded guilty to endangering children by neglect and was sentenced to five years’ probation.

During the Network’s investigation, Stephen Berowitz — an attorney representing the company, said Byrd was the only case in which the company let an unqualified driver behind the wheel of a school bus — even though the company had been cited in a similar incident three weeks before Byrd’s crash.

“They have licensed school bus drivers. At all times they are operated by properly licensed drivers with the one exception I am aware of being Lisa Byrd,” he said.

“These defendants showed a complete disregard for the safety of school children by allegedly hiring bus drivers who were totally unsuited for the job and operating buses that were in no condition to be on the road,” said Thomas Eicher, directory of the Attorney General’s Office of Public Integrity and Accountability. “We charge that they systematically falsified records to hide their egregious conduct. We have exposed them and will work to ensure that they never again put young students at risk.”

Mike Davis has spent the last decade covering New Jersey local news, marijuana legalization, transportation and basically whatever else is going on at any given moment. Contact him at mdavis@gannettnj.com or @byMikeDavis on Twitter.