Cranbury Township officials said a fraudulent wire transfer on Sept. 28 stole about $26 million, including funds designated to purchase property for the township’s affordable-housing obligations, Mayor Lisa Knierim said in a Nov. 6 statement.
The mayor’s office said investigators have frozen nearly $17.3 million in assets, leaving roughly $8.7 million outside the reported freeze. A task force involving local, county, state and federal law enforcement agencies — led by the township’s police department and the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office — is working to recover the funds, the statement said. The township added the investigation remains active and that additional details cannot be released.
Knierim’s announcement came Nov. 6, three days after the midterm elections and more than five weeks after the theft. Several residents posted on the township’s Facebook page questioning why the theft was not disclosed sooner; “I’m interested in knowing why this information was kept under wraps until after Election Day,” one commenter wrote. Knierim acknowledged residents’ concerns, writing, “Those concerns are legitimate, and we take them seriously.”
The announcement followed a local election in which Democrat Thomas Szczur Jr. defeated Republican Carol Haring with 63.69% of the vote to Haring’s 36.32%, according to results published by the New Jersey secretary of state’s office. Szczur’s victory preserved Democrats’ control of all five seats on the Cranbury Township Committee, the township said.
Knierim said the Township Committee plans to introduce ordinances Monday to establish two new positions — assistant township administrator and assistant chief financial officer — and that officials are considering hiring a municipal accounting firm for additional financial consulting support while working with insurance carriers to explore recovery options.
Fox News Digital has reached out to the mayor’s office for additional comment, the township statement said.
Jon Ross Myers is the executive editor and publisher of the Mississippi News Network, Mississippi's largest digital only media company. He can be reached at editor@tippahnews.com
