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The driver for American Star Transportation of Paterson not only didn't have a license -- he had a criminal case pending in court for patronizing a prostitute, authorities said.
Two brothers who operate American Star were arrested this week by state authorities who said they employed criminals and people with suspended licenses as drivers and then lied about it.
Public school district officials not just in River Edge but also in Mahwah, Franklin Lakes, Paterson and Jersey City were among those deceived by Shelim Khalique, 53, of Wayne, and Jwel Khalique, 43, of Totowa, New Jersey Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin said.
Many will remember Shelim Khalique as the former owner/operator of A-1 Elegant Tours Inc.
State authorities charged him two years ago with hiring criminals as drivers – among them, a registered sex offender – while ignoring drug testing, skipping background checks and operating unsafe buses.
Shelim Khalique was soon back in business, transferring equipment, assets and employees from that company to American Star, Platkin said this week.
The Khalique brothers, along with unidentified accomplices, allegedly employed drivers who lacked valid commercial driver’s licenses or didn't have CDLs with the required endorsements to carry children as passengers.
Some of the drivers had suspended licenses and some were allowed to bring students to and from school even though mandatory fingerprinting, background checks, and drug testing hadn't been done, investigators from the New Jersey State Police and AG's Office of Public Integrity and Accountability reported.
The brothers also submitted documents listing the names of certain drivers and aides who would purportedly staff school bus routes -- when, in fact, "other employees who were not properly licensed, and who in some cases had criminal backgrounds, were transporting the students while the listed drivers were assigned elsewhere," the OPIA probe found.
American Star was "entrusted with the precious lives of children every day, and its owners had a duty to hire competent, trustworthy employees to transport those children safely," Platkin said. "But the business owners were putting those students’ lives in danger for profit.”
New Jersey laws and regulations require that school bus drivers and bus aides undergo drug testing and criminal background checks, the attorney general noted. Driver or aides with a criminal history or with known substance abuse issues are prohibited from driving school buses, Platkin said.
The brothers ignored the requirements -- and, as a result, the welfare of innocent kids -- he said.
“It takes a special level of callousness to allow people facing criminal charges to get behind the wheels of school buses packed with children, while deceiving parents and school administrators about the risks those students are facing,” OPIA Executive Director Tom Eicher added.
Shelim and Jwel Khalique were both sent to the Passaic County Jail after State Police charged them with conspiracy, false representation for a government contract and theft by deception.
Jwel Khalique was also charged with misconduct by a corporate official and remained held in the jail on Friday. His brother was released pending further court action, records show.
In addition to the criminal charges, the state Motor Vehicle Commission has issued a number of summonses to the company and conducted numerous inspections on its buses that, according to the AG’s Office, corroborate the OPIA findings.
The New Jersey State Police Official Corruption Bureau's North Unit has headed the investigation with Deputy Attorneys General Samantha Thoma and Caroline A. Oliveira of the OPIA Corruption Bureau, Platkin said.
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