F&A Transportation Inc. owner Ahmed Mahgoub and the company provided false information to school districts to cover up the fact that they hired unqualified drivers, failed to conduct mandatory drug testing and criminal background checks for drivers and aides and operated unsafe buses to transport children.
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F&A also allowed several bus drivers to work despite having disqualifying criminal histories. Officials said one driver drove a bus carrying children while intoxicated and crashed in Feb. 2019.
In that case, an employee of F&A allegedly used heroin in F&A's parking lot in East Orange before boarding a school bus to transport 12 children with special needs in Newark.
"My office is committed to ensuring that contractors who parents and school districts entrust with the lives of children take that responsibility seriously, and abide by the rules designed to keep students in their care safe," said New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin. "We will vigorously prosecute those who cut corners and put children in unnecessary danger to increase their profits."
Laws and regulations in New Jersey require all school bus drivers possess a valid commercial driver's license with two additional endorsements to carry students as passengers. School bus drivers and aides are also must to undergo drug testing and criminal background checks; drivers or aides with a criminal history or with known substance abuse issues are prohibited from driving buses.
"There are requirements in place designed to require school bus drivers to meet certain basic, commonsense standards and to prevent potentially tragic traffic incidents," added OPIA executive director Thomas Eicher.
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Under the terms of a plea agreement, the state will recommend at sentencing that Mahgoub serve five years in state prison.
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