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Mark W. Holmes Sr., a former director of the

Asbury Park Housing Authority, is accused of
42 crimes related to wrongfully spending
public money.

A PROMISING

LIFE LOST

Jamar Small had beaten

the odds. After
graduating college, he
returned home to Asbury
Park to help others avoid
the streets. He was shot
to death Sunday.

ASBURY PARK PRESS FILE PHOTO

Indictment:
Official spent
Asbury funds
on strip clubs
Ex-housing authority head accused
of wrongfully spending public money
ANDREW FORD @ANDREWFORDNEWS

From personal expenses at strip clubs to hotel spa

treatments, a former director of the Asbury Park Housing Authority is accused of 42 crimes related to wrongfully spending public money, court documents show.
Mark W. Holmes Sr., 54, of Lawrence, Mercer County,
was indicted Monday, according to the court documents.
Holmes was charged with 22 counts of second-degree
official misconduct, 16 counts of third-degree official
misconduct, one count of second-degree pattern of official misconduct, two counts of third-degree fraudulent
use of a credit card, and one count of second-degree
theft by deception.
The indictment accuses him of spending more than
$200 in housing authority money at Hustler Barely Legal, a strip club in New Orleans, and Thee DollHouse, a
strip club in Tampa, Florida.
Holmes was first arrested on related charges in July
2013. He was freed a day later after posting $70,000 bail,
according to the Monmouth County Prosecutors Office.
His attorney, Mark G. Davis, hadnt yet seen the indictment Monday evening and declined to comment on the
charges. He noted the span of years between Holmes
arrest and indictment.
Its probably quite telling as to the weakness of their
case though, Davis said.
Holmes, a former Lawrence mayor and township
councilman, was executive director of the Asbury Park
Housing Authority between December 2008 and June
2011, the release said. Authorities allege that during that
time, Holmes stole more than $75,000 by diverting state
grant funds, collecting reimbursements for unauthorized meals and double-dipping on per-diem payments
when traveling.
Before he was director, Holmes was deputy director

Jamar Small, 24, died after he was

shot Sunday in Asbury Park.

See HOLMES, Page 4A

NICQUEL TERRY @NTERRYAPP

Small as an
Asbury Park
quarterback.

ASBURY PARK - Jamar Small had defied

the odds.
He led the Asbury Park High School football team to its third straight championship in
2009, graduated the following year, and
earned scholarships to play the sport at a
collegiate level.
He achieved a business administration
degree from Texas Southern University and
returned home to Asbury Park with high
hopes. His goal: to pay it forward, to coach
young athletes in Asbury Park and steer them
away from drugs and gangs just as someone had done for him.
But on Sunday afternoon, Small fell
victim to the same violence he had
worked so hard to avoid. Small, 24, and
his older brother were leaving a house on
Summerfield Avenue to get lunch when a
gunman fired at least five gunshots into
the car they were riding in.
Small died in the shooting. His older
brother, whom community members identified as Tyreek Small, was wounded and has
been treated and released from the hospital.
Authorities would only say that the second
victim was a 25-year-old Asbury Park man.
No one has been arrested in connection
with the shooting.
See SMALL, Page 4A

You dont expect that to happen to someone

who made it and is trying to give back.
DUANNE SMALL,

Six U.S. service members are

killed by a suicide bomber
at a base in Afghanistan. 1B

ADVICE
CLASSIFIED
COMICS
HEALTHY LIVING
LOCAL

7D
8D
6D
1D
3A

COUSIN OF JAMAR SMALL

OBITUARIES
OPINION
SPORTS
TECH TUESDAY
WEATHER

6A
9A
1C
5A
8C

VOLUME 136
NUMBER 305
SINCE 1879

"6<;<3
 

PRESS GETS RESULTS

BOB BIELK/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Parker Drake (shown above with his mother) was bribed by

two men into jumping into the ocean in Manasquan.

Parker Drake bill

is on govs desk
KATHLEEN HOPKINS @KHOPKINSAPP

TRENTON A bipartisan bill to better protect developmentally disabled adults inspired by the ordeal of
an autistic Howell man dared by friends to plunge into
the icy ocean is on the governors desk, awaiting his
signature.
The bill, which calls for imprisonment up to 10 years
for those who endanger developmentally disabled persons, was approved in the Assembly on Thursday by a
vote of 65-1 and was sent to the governor. The Senate
passed the bill over the summer.
Senate President Stephen M. Sweeney, D-Gloucester, and Sen. Robert Singer, R-Ocean, introduced the bill
in May after reading in the Asbury Park Press about
what happened to Parker Drake.
Drake, then 19, was offered two packs of cigarettes
and $20 to jump off the Manasquan jetty into the freezing Atlantic Ocean on Feb. 25, during the winter cold
snap. The two men who issued the dare made a video of
Drake struggling in the raging ocean and posted it to
social media.

"TCVSZ
1BSL
1SFTT
EBJMZ

LLLLLLLL

See BILL, Page 4A