NJ Teacher Charged After Accused Of Giving Fake Mask Note

[NJCher]

A Woodbridge public school teacher has been criminally charged with forgery and tampering with public records after police say she handed in a fake doctor's note stating why she did not have to wear a mask in school.

The teacher is Gayle Hadley, 53, of Toms River, who teaches in the Woodbridge school district.

She was taken into police custody last Thursday, and charged with one count of fourth-degree uttering and one count of fourth-degree falsifying medical records, according to Middlesex County Prosecutor Yolanda Ciccone and Woodbridge Police Director Robert Hubner.

"Following concerns raised by the district's administration, an investigation by Detective Andrew Kondracki of the Woodbridge Police Department determined that on September 8, Hadley, who was employed as a teacher for the Woodbridge Public School District, submitted a forged doctor's letter to the district in which she claimed a fictitious medical exemption from the district's mask policy," read a release from the Middlesex County Prosecutor's office announcing her arrest.

Link: https://patch.com/new-jersey/westorange/s/htnus/woodbridge-teacher-arrested-for-submitting-fake-note-about-masks?utm_source=nearby-news&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=alert

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The NJEA is providing her with a free lawyer. Quite frankly, as a teacher's union member (not of that union, though), I am disgusted. Why?

[abqtommy]

1. "The stupid, it burns deep"! nt

[brush]

2. Not at all worth it. She jeopardized her career over a mask, forging? Crazy.

Guess the union has to get her a lawyer but I doubt the agree with her stance, and the forgery evidence is right there. She screwed herself.

[smb]

3. Did She Forge A Whole New Note, Or Tweak One Of Her Students' Fake Sick Notes? nt

[gratuitous]

4. Looks Like Gayle Effed Around

Now she's on the road to find out.

[Bayard]

5. "fourth-degree uttering"

I was intrigued enough by the term to google it. Didn't really find a satisfactory definition. But I like the sound of it.

[Timewas]

7. Uttering

Uttering is a crime that involves the act of passing or using a forged document, like uttering a forged check. The crimes of uttering and forgery are closely related and we often see them both charged in the same complaint or indictment. Uttering and forgery were both common law offenses derived from English and American common law.

[Bayard]

8. Thanks!

[ret5hd]

6. As to your question about the union providing a free lawyer:

I see this question (or variants) a lot. It is a simple, easily understood concept (i believe, anyway)...once it is properly framed. I was a 30+ year union member, for a short time an elected union local official, and as such took a bit of training on this subject.

The easiest way to explain it is: really, the union is the employees pre-paid lawyer in any dispute between the employee and the employer. That is, practically in WHOLE, what the union is. The vast majority of the time the union is representing individual members in various disputes with the employer...only a fraction of the time is spent negotiating contracts.

The union negotiated an arbitration clause in the agreement, and is now legally bound to represent the employee to the best of their ability...the same as a lawyer that you may hire to represent you if you were charged with a crime. And essentially, in the organized labor world, termination is considered the equivalent of "the death penalty".

The same as a lawyer you hire, the union can not (legally) lie...You can't go in to the union rep's office and say "Yeah, I beat this guy, but I want to play it like this other thing happened." Same as a lawyer you hire. But you CAN keep your mouth shut (and any union rep OR LAWYER worth a damn will tell you this).

Maybe this isn't a satisfactory answer for you...but them's the facts. The union is a pre-paid lawyer to represent ANY dispute between the employee and the employer.

[ZonkerHarris]

9. Correct. She deserves the lawyer for her union membership and hopefully it's a good one who tells

her to cut a plea deal.
It sounds like she already lost her job for it.
"8, Hadley, who was employed as a teacher for the Woodbridge Public School District, "