Six indicted for allegedly stealing $700K from NJ's brain injury fund

Scott Fallon, NorthJersey.com
Updated ·3 min read
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The New Jersey Traumatic Brain Injury Fund was created in 2001 by the state Legislature with the best of intentions: to pay for treatment and equipment for middle- and working-class state residents that insurance does not pick up.

And while thousands of New Jerseyans in dire situations have received help for more than 20 years, the fund has apparently become the target of people allegedly trying to scam taxpayer money.

Six women and two businesses were indicted Friday for allegedly stealing more than $700,000 from the fund over more than a decade, the Attorney General's Office announced. They are part of a larger conspiracy that includes the fund's former manager, who pleaded guilty last year to federal charges of defrauding the fund of more than $4.5 million, a law enforcement official said.

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The Traumatic Brain Injury Fund each year helps more than 500 New Jerseyans who have had an injury to the head that left them impaired. Each recipient has a lifetime cap of $100,000. Every recipient is supposed to be assigned a case manager from the fund to "create a service support plan," according to fund documents.

Submitted invoices for services never rendered

In the latest case, the six defendants and the companies allegedly submitted invoices to the fund for services that were never rendered from 2009 to 2019, authorities said.

"These defendants did not work for this money, all they did was fraudulently work the system,” Thomas J. Eicher, executive director of the state Office of Public Integrity and Accountability, said in a statement. “This indictment should serve as a warning to anyone who would abuse public resources for personal gain at the expense of community members in need.”

Thomas Eicher, director of Office of Public Integrity & Accountability, at right during a 2019 press conference.
Thomas Eicher, director of Office of Public Integrity & Accountability, at right during a 2019 press conference.

Those charged with conspiracy, theft by deception, misapplication of government property, tampering with public records, falsifying or tampering with records, and official misconduct are:

  • Maria Sirange Viana DeSouza, 48, of Newark.

  • Marlene Souza-Sales, 45, of Elizabeth.

  • Patricia Souza Lima, 36, of Newark.

  • Stephanie Andrade, 36, of Elizabeth.

  • Estela Marisol Zapata, 46, of Edison.

  • Clara Rincon, 48, of the Bronx.

  • Marlene’s Cleaning Service LLC, founded in 2018 and based in Newark.

  • S&N Household Management LLC, founded in 2018 and based in Elizabeth.

The defendants were listed as unnamed "co-conspirators" in earlier federal indictments against others who allegedly stole from the fund, a law enforcement official said.

In January 2023, Harry Pizutelli, the former manager of the fund, pleaded guilty in federal court along with Maritza Flores on charges of conspiracy to commit health care fraud.

Pizutelli, of Edison, generated bogus vendor payments to Flores, a third defendant, C.R. Kraus, and other unnamed conspirators by generating and processing false invoices and internal payment vouchers for services that were never given.

Pizutelli made these fraudulent payments "to maintain and further romantic and/or sexual relationships with Flores and other conspirators," prosecutors said at the time of the guilty plea.

Of the $4.5 million, more than $940,000 went to Flores and $3.245 million went to Kraus.

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Six allegedly stole $700K from NJ's brain injury fund