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Mark Holmes, the former executive director of the Asbury Park Housing Authority, has been charged with theft in connection with his tenure at the agency, according to a news release from the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office.

Holmes — who was a former mayor and councilman in Lawrence Township — is accused of stealing more than $75,000 from the authority, according to the release. He was arrested this morning at his Mercer County home, according to the Prosecutor’s Office.

The alleged embezzlement involved funds from a Literacy Skills Training Grant intended to provide job training skills to Asbury Park public housing residents, the release stated. Holmes is also alleged to have made unauthorized purchases on credit and debits card involving a trip to Florida and meals in Asbury Park and Lawrence Township, according to the release.

The following is the full text of the release from the Prosecutor’s Office describing the arrest, allegations and charges:

The former executive director of the Asbury Park Housing Authority was arrested Thursday at his Mercer County home and charged with theft, announced Acting Monmouth County Prosecutor Christopher J. Gramiccioni.

Mark W. Holmes, 52, of Lawrence Township, is charged with second degree Theft by Deception after an investigation by this Office’s Financial Crimes and Public Corruption Bureau revealed he stole in excess of $75,000 by diverting state grant funds, collecting reimbursements for unauthorized meals, and double-dipping on per diem payments when traveling.

Holmes, a former Lawrence Township mayor and town councilman, was executive director of the Asbury Park Housing Authority (APHA) between November 2008 and April 2011. Prior to assuming his role as executive director, Holmes was deputy director of the city-run organization. Just months before assuming the role as executive director, Holmes applied for and received a $99,897 grant award from the state Department of Labor and Workforce Development. The Literacy Skills Training Grant was intended to provide training in computers and other marketable skills for Asbury Park public housing residents, but Holmes embarked on a scheme to embezzle money from the grant award.

Between Nov. 19, 2008 and Aug. 14, 2009, with Holmes then executive director at APHA, the $99,897 original sum was drawn down by $75,721.40 and transferred into the APHA general operating fund before ultimately moving the money into accounts opened and controlled by him.

Additionally, Holmes used a debit card and an American Express credit card to make a number of unauthorized purchases for his benefit during a trip to Florida in January and February 2011 totaling $2,869.86, and used the debit card on about 127 occasions for the unauthorized purchase of meals in Asbury Park and his hometown totaling $16,985.62.

Holmes also submitted reimbursement vouchers for meals totaling $3,397.28, despite paying for the meals using the American Express credit card.

Holmes was lodged in the Monmouth County Correctional Institution, Freehold Township, on $70,000 bail with the option to post 10 percent, as set by Monmouth County Superior Court Judge Francis J. Vernoia, P.J. Cr.

If convicted of second degree Theft by Deception, Holmes faces five to 10 years in a New Jersey state prison.

Despite these charges, every defendant is presumed innocent, unless and until found guilty beyond a reasonable doubt, following a trial at which the defendant has all of the trial rights guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution and State law.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant Monmouth County Prosecutor John Loughrey, director of the Office’s Financial Crimes and Public Corruption Bureau.

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