Ex-NJ Transit Manager Pleads Guilty to Theft and Tax Evasion

AG: New Jersey News

Filed March 31st, 2026

Detected April 1st, 2026

Summary

The New Jersey Attorney General's Office announced that Peejay Manila, former NJ Transit senior director, pleaded guilty to second-degree Theft by Unlawful Taking and third-degree Failure to Pay Taxes. Manila stole approximately 1,100 cellphones purchased with NJ Transit funds and resold them to buyback companies over multiple years, generating hundreds of thousands in criminal proceeds. Under the plea agreement, he will pay approximately $1.383 million in restitution and owes $56,000 in back taxes for 2021-2024.

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What changed

Peejay Manila, 37, of Hackensack and Little Ferry, New Jersey, pleaded guilty on March 24, 2026, before Judge James X. Sattely in Bergen County Superior Court. As former NJ Transit senior director/chief of digital workspace, Manila executed a multi-year scheme to steal over 1,000 cellphones purchased with agency funds and resell them to buyback companies. He admitted using the criminal proceeds to fund a luxurious lifestyle, including overseas travel. Under the plea agreement, the state will recommend a five-year prison sentence, and Manila must pay restitution of approximately $1,383,000 to NJ Transit plus approximately $56,000 in back taxes.

NJ Transit and other government agencies should review internal controls over asset procurement and resale programs. Manila is permanently disqualified from holding any public office or position in New Jersey government. The case was prosecuted by the Office of Public Integrity and Accountability (OPIA), which continues its efforts to protect the public fisc from fraud and abuse by public employees.

What to do next

Review internal controls over equipment procurement and buyback resale programs
Audit asset tracking procedures for high-value portable equipment

Penalties

Recommended 5-year prison sentence; $1,383,000 restitution to NJ Transit; approximately $56,000 in back taxes; permanent disqualification from public employment in New Jersey

Source document (simplified)

Ex-NJ Transit Manager Pleads Guilty After Stealing Cellphones from the Agency, Reselling Them, and Failing to Pay Taxes on his Criminal Proceeds

Peejay Manila Agrees to Pay $1.3M in Restitution After Theft of Nearly 1,100 Phones

For Immediate Release: March 31, 2026

Office of The Attorney General
– Jennifer Davenport, Attorney General
Office of Public Integrity and Accountability
– Eric L. GIbson, Executive Director

For Further Information:

Media Inquiries-
Dan Prochilo
OAGpress@njoag.gov

TRENTON — Attorney General Jennifer Davenport and the Office of Public Integrity and Accountability (OPIA) today announced that a former NJ Transit supervisor pleaded guilty after stealing over 1,000 cellphones purchased with NJ Transit funds in order to resell them to buyback companies — a years-long criminal scheme that made hundreds of thousands of dollars. The defendant admitted in court that he spent his criminal proceeds on a luxurious lifestyle, including getaways to numerous overseas destinations.

Peejay Manila, 37, formerly of Hackensack and currently of Little Ferry, New Jersey, pleaded guilty to Theft by Unlawful Taking (second degree) and Failure to Pay or Turn Over Taxes (third-degree) during a March 24, 2026 hearing before Judge James X. Sattely, the criminal presiding judge for state Superior Court in Bergen County.

Under a plea agreement, the State will recommend that Manila be sentenced to a five-year prison term. According to the terms of the agreement, the defendant will also be required to pay restitution to NJ Transit, estimated to be a total of approximately $1,383,000. He has also agreed to file amended tax returns for 2021 through 2024 reflecting his actual income during those years, which is estimated to result in the defendant owing about $56,000 in back taxes.

Additionally, as stated in the agreement, the defendant forfeited all public employment and will be forever disqualified from holding any office or position of honor, trust, or profit in state, county or local government.

“For years, this defendant stole from NJ Transit in order to fund his lavish lifestyle,” said Attorney General Davenport. “He exploited his position of public trust for his own ends and hurt New Jersey taxpayers in the process. Our office will continue to protect the public fisc and ensure that all public servants perform their duties with integrity.”

“Instead of serving the people of New Jersey, this defendant used his position for his own personal benefit,” said Eric L. Gibson, Executive Director of OPIA. “Our office will continue to work tirelessly towards rooting out this type of public corruption in New Jersey.”

As alleged in documents filed in this case, beginning in approximately November 2020 and continuing for more than four years, the defendant placed orders on NJ Transit’s behalf for cellphones authorized only for official purposes and intended for staff members. Instead, the defendant stole them and sold them for his own enrichment. He acknowledged that he used those funds, in part, to fund vacations around the world including trips to Japan and Dubai.

The defendant acknowledged that he began working for NJ Transit on December 2, 2019 as a senior director and he was later promoted to Chief of Digital Workspace. In that role, the defendant had access to NJ Transit’s account with a wireless provider for the purpose of purchasing electronic devices for use by employees, using funds from the publicly funded agency.

He further admitted that he stole more than 1,000 devices, costing NJ Transit around $1.3 million. He then contacted another NJ Transit employee requesting the removal of a system that restricts content on the work phones and sold those devices to five different buyback companies, which allow individuals to ship phones in exchange for payments, for an aggregate of more than $900,000.

On May 8, 2025, law enforcement executed search warrants at the defendant’s apartment and office, and for his vehicle. According to documents filed in the case, police found, among other items, approximately 20 cellphones, 11 of which were new and in unopened boxes, at the defendant’s residence.

Nine of the phones were wrapped in bubble wrap in a box, which had an address label on it indicating it was about to be sent to a cellphone buyback company. As alleged, the majority of the phones seized from the defendant’s residence were confirmed to have been ordered by the defendant through his employment with NJ Transit.

The defendant failed to pay taxes on the over $900,000 in illegal profit resulting in taxes owed to the state of approximately $56,000.

Sentencing is scheduled for June 5, 2026.

The plea was accepted by Deputy Attorneys General Richard T. Bobbe III and Joseph Battistella for the OPIA Corruption Bureau, under the supervision of Deputy Bureau Chief Amanda Nini, Counsel to the OPIA Executive Director Andrew Wellbrock, Corruption Bureau Director Jeffrey J. Manis, and OPIA Executive Director Eric Gibson.

Defense Attorney:
Louis G. DeAngelis, Englewood, New Jersey