Acropolis blasts official, mayor over identity theft
Twp. will provide credit monitoring services after computer stolen
BY PATRICIA A. MILLER Staff Writer
The administration's response to the theft of a laptop computer that contained Brick Township employees' personal information was "totally inappropriate," council President Stephen C. Acropolis said.

Acropolis questioned the eight-day gap between the time Township Administrator Scott M. Pezarras and Mayor Daniel J. Kelly knew of the theft and when they informed the employees that their personal data could have been compromised.

"Obviously there has to be something done to make sure this never happens again," Acropolis said. "HR [Human Resources] 101 says you never have personal records of employees without having some kind of encryption protection."

All 510 people on the township payroll will be given extended identity-theft-monitoring services, Pezarras said.

The township will provide the service through Experian, a major credit-monitoring agency.

"I take full responsibility for what occurred," Pezarras said at the Oct. 2 Township Council caucus meeting. "It was something that occurred on my watch."

The information on the laptop did not include bank account or credit card numbers, Pezarras said.

Township police received a call from the employee at 10:02 p.m. on Sept 19 that her home had been burglarized. Personal items were stolen, along with the computer the employee had taken home, said police Capt. Nils R. Berquist.

Police have not released the name of the employee.

"She's a dedicated employee who just took work home," Kelly said. "It's an unfortunate situation. Those things are being changed as we speak right now."

Both Pezarras and Kelly have said the police asked them not to reveal details about the theft, because it could compromise the investigation.

"Obviously you don't want to tip your hand and have someone looking through every single file," Pezarras said.

Berquist confirmed that police had recommended that the details of the information "be limited."

"No one from the department advised anyone in the human resources department or the administration to delay the notification," he said.

Pezarras said he also held back releasing the information because the burglary appeared to be random and involved the theft of other items as well as the computer.

"If people had accessed township servers and had gone specifically for that type of information, I would have handled it differently," he said. "And obviously, based upon the outcry, I probably would have handled it a little differently and had a meeting with department heads."

Acropolis questioned why the employee was allowed to work at home with the information.

A memo sent out more than a decade ago warns that no personal information should leave town hall, Acropolis said.

"Why was it taken off-site?" he said. "She did not have the tools or the leadership to let her and every other member in town know what they could or could not do."

Acropolis also questioned why council members were not informed of the situation until Sept. 28.

"I'm annoyed that they knew about it on the 20th and they didn't do anything about it."

Pezarras' first memo, dated Sept. 21, which employees received in their Sept. 28 paychecks, warned of "unusual activity."

"I wanted to let you know that personal information may have been compromised," the memo states. "Please monitor your personal affairs and report any unusual activity to local law enforcement agencies."

A second memo sent out a few days later was more specific about the information on the laptop.

"They just mishandled the whole thing," Acropolis said. "I would have said get a hold of each department head, and have a meeting with every single employee."

Acropolis, a Republican, and Kelly, a Democrat who was sworn in on Jan. 4 to replace former Mayor Joseph C. Scarpelli until the November election, are vying for Scarpelli's two-year unexpired term.

Acropolis said the cost of the fraud protection might be covered, since the township is a member of the Ocean County Joint Insurance Fund. It would cost $27 per year for each employee for the coverage, roughly $11,000 per year, he said.

"We have to do that," he said. "The employees should not be held responsible. That was not something of their own making."