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Essex School Bus Company Owner Gets Five Years in Prison for Hiring Unqualified Drivers with Criminal Histories, Drug Problems, Improper Licenses

TRENTON — Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin and the Office of Public Integrity and Accountability (OPIA) today announced the sentencing of the owner of an Essex County-based school bus company that failed to perform drug tests and background checks on drivers — one of whom later crashed — as well as operating unsafe buses and trying to cover up the misconduct.

The sentencing of Ahmed Mahgoub, 66, of East Hanover, New Jersey, was handed down by Judge Mark Ali, Essex County Criminal Division Presiding Judge, in New Jersey Superior Court, Essex Vicinage.

Mahgoub was sentenced to five years in state prison, in accordance with the terms of a plea agreement the defendant had reached with the OPIA Corruption Bureau. Judge Ali also ordered Mahgoub and his company, East Orange-based F&A Transportation, Inc., to pay a combined $500,000 in corruption profiteering penalties, while both Mahgoub and F&A Transportation were banned from doing business with the State of New Jersey or its administrative or political subdivisions for a decade.

“The defendant not only flouted government regulations and standards, he risked the lives of children by cutting corners,” said Attorney General Platkin. “He now will serve a substantial term in prison.”

“The defendant skirted quality controls and oversight designed to ensure that qualified and trustworthy drivers were taking children to and from school each day,” said Drew Skinner, Executive Director of OPIA. “Those safety requirements are there for good reason, and circumventing them is unacceptable, as this sentence illustrates.”

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Every criminal must be punished and every innocent must get justice.

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