NEWARK, N.J. – A West Orange, New Jersey, man who was the sole proprietor of two companies that purportedly provided printing and digital marketing services to the Newark Watershed Conservation and Development Corporation (NWCDC) today admitted his role in a conspiracy to fraudulently bill the NWCDC for more than $110,000 for work that was never performed, U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman announced.

Kevin Gleaton, 52, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Jose Linares in Newark federal court to an information charging him with one count of conspiring to commit wire fraud with Donald Bernard, Sr., Linda Watkins Brashear, and others, to defraud the NWCDC of money and property and one count of misuse of Social Security numbers in connection with personal bankruptcy proceedings.

According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:

From May 2011 to September 2012, Gleaton conspired with Bernard, who was then employed as manager of Special Projects for the NWCDC, Brashear who was then the NWCDC executive director, and others, to defraud the NWCDC of more than $110,000 for work that was never performed by Gleaton or his companies. Gleaton was the owner of the Synergy Group, a company that received more than $58,000 in 2011 from the NWCDC, purportedly for printing services, as well as Mindshare Media, which received more than $52,000 from the NWCDC in 2012, purportedly for digital marketing services...