Though he’s currently behind bars at the Federal Correctional Institution at Fort Dix, Willingboro Township council member Nathaniel Anderson has not resigned from his position on council.
Now, prosecutors have filed a civil complaint in New Jersey Superior Court seeking to remove Anderson from office, the Burlington County Prosecutor’s Office announced Friday.
The action asks the court to declare that Anderson, who previously served as Willingboro’s mayor, has forfeited his ability to serve on the council.
Anderson was reelected to a four-year council term last November before being convicted by a federal jury in January of conspiracy to commit wire fraud affecting a financial institution, bank fraud, and two counts of making a false statement on a mortgage application.
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He was sentenced in June to one year and one day in prison and ordered along with his co-defendant to pay about $221,000 in restitution to the victims.
While state-level convictions trigger immediate, automatic removal from office upon a guilty verdict, prosecutors must petition the state Superior Court to remove an elected official who refuses to resign following a qualifying federal conviction.
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A hearing on the order to show cause is scheduled for Sept. 11.