NJ school bus company admits to hiring unqualified, unlicensed drivers

🚌 NJ school bus company admitted to hiring unqualified drivers

🚌 Some drivers were unlicensed or had suspended licenses

🚌 The bus company has been shut down

TRENTON  — A Paterson school bus company has admitted hiring unqualified drivers and deceiving school districts about its hiring practices and the safety of its bus fleet, according to New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin and the Office of Public Integrity and Accountability.

A-1 Elegant Tours, also known as Eastern Star Transportation, entered a guilty plea on Monday, April 28, during a hearing in New Jersey Superior Court in Essex County.

As a result, the bus company agreed to pay a $250,000 penalty and face a decade-long ban from doing business with the state, Platkin announced.

During the plea hearing, the company’s principal and owner, Shelim Khalique, 55, of Wayne, admitted to making false representations for a government contract (a second-degree crime), agreed to pay the six-figure penalty, agreed to a personal 10-year debarment, and has been granted admission into a pre-trial intervention program on a falsifying records charge (a fourth-degree crime) for a two-year term.

After A-1 Elegant was originally charged in 2020 for hiring several drivers who either didn’t have valid commercial driver’s licenses, suspended licenses, or criminal records, another bus company, American Star Transportation, owned by Khalique’s brother, Jwel Khalique, 45, of Totowa, inherited almost all of A-1 Elegant’s buses, equipment, assets, and employees.

In June 2023, the brothers were accused of ordering unqualified American Star employees to drive students, investigators said. Many of the drivers, again, either didn’t have the proper commercial driver’s licenses, or had suspended licenses, or had incomplete background checks.

American Star then entered into a 10-year monitoring agreement requiring the company to provide the monitor with a list of school bus drivers, aides, and the routes each will be assigned to, on a weekly basis. It must also include a certification signed by the company owner, confirming that all such drivers and aides have the necessary credentials required by law, Platkin said.

The bus company must also provide information to county school superintendents in the counties where it operates, showing that all their school bus drivers underwent criminal background checks, and that the company performed drug and alcohol testing of its drivers. This includes testing upon initial employment, as well as random testing.

Yearly driver record updates must also be provided under the monitoring agreement, including a list of any motor vehicle violations committed by each driver.

Khalique’s brother, Shelim, must also not be involved in any way in the company’s operations.

The manager of both bus companies, Henry Rhodes, 61, of Paterson pleaded guilty in March 2023 to two counts of second-degree conspiracy and two counts of second-degree theft by deception, for conduct stemming from his involvement.

Rhodes agreed to be barred from doing business with the state of New Jersey or any of its administrative or political subdivisions for a decade, as part of a plea agreement.
His sentencing is scheduled for May 16.

“This resolution ensures accountability, including a steep financial penalty, for this crime, and the State government contracts will be off-limits to the primary offenders well into the future. This case has also resulted in stringent, independent monitoring to ensure that children get to school safely, and that school districts and taxpayers are not deceived and taken advantage of,” Platkin said.

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