The sentencing of the former Jersey City Board of Education president and director of a city program that provided resources to help the underserved prepare for entering the workforce has been postponed again.
Sudhan Thomas, who pleaded guilty to federal counts of embezzling and wire fraud in June last year, had been scheduled to be sentenced Tuesday. A new date has been set for June 17.
Thomas admitted that as executive director of the Jersey City Employment and Training Program from January to July of 2019, he used his access to JCETP funds and bank accounts to embezzle more than $45,000. Thomas admitted that checks drawn from JCETP accounts were made payable to others, but ultimately benefitted Thomas, to pay his debts and expenses.
Under the guise of collecting repayments for loans to his 2016 school board campaign or reimbursement for other purported campaign-related expenses, Thomas embezzled more than $8,000 from his 2016 campaign account for his own personal use.
The embezzlement charge is punishable by a maximum potential penalty of 10 years in prison. The wire fraud charge is punishable by a maximum potential penalty of 20 years in prison. Both charges carry a maximum fine of up to $250,000.
The sentencing was initially planned for Nov. 1, 2023 and has been delayed multiple times.
Thomas is also facing state charges that during the 2019 school board campaign he accepted bribes of $10,000 and $25,000 in exchange for making the cooperating witness a real estate attorney for the school district. Thomas was school board president at the time and had plans for a 2021 Jersey City City Council run.
