Acting Essex County Prosecutor Carolyn A. Murray announced today that Barbara Queen, 75, a retired West Orange school teacher currently living in East Hanover, has been charged with first degree financial facilitation and theft for her role in a scheme to sell fraudulent stock.
On Feb. 10, of this year, Queen was charged with engaging in the same conduct by inducing a California doctor to invest $100,000 in stock of a company named AAMPRO. It was alleged in that case that Queen and co-defendant William C. Martucci, 69, of Millburn committed theft by deception between Oct. 8, 204 and Dec. 2011.
Today, she was charged with the same crimes in a case against another victim, a Miami resident who invested personal funds with Queen. Between April 10, 2007 and Nov. 30, 2011 Queen is accused of taking in excess of $75,000 from the second victim for fraudulent stock certificates, according to Assistant Prosecutor Robert Grady who is handling the case.
In that same time period, she is also accused of committing the crime of financial facilitation by transferring stolen money in excess of $500,000 and issuing false stock certificates and other documents with the intention of concealing the source of the money.
“Given the magnitude of the operation, we believe other investors may have given money to Queen and Martucci. We are asking them to come forward if they have information relevant to this investigation. They should contact the Financial Crimes Unit of the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office at 973-266-7720,’’ said Prosecutor Grady.
If convicted of the new charges, Queen faces 30 years in New Jersey state prison.
These charges are accusations. All defendants are presumed innocent unless and until they plead guilty or are found guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
