Brick Township man sentenced for doctoring water data

The Brick Township man who admitted falsifying water purity data connected to the New Brunswick and Milltown drinking water systems heads to prison for as much as three years.

Edward O'Rourke, 60, was sentenced today in New Brunswick for his December guilty plea to state charges of corruption of public resources and violations of the Safe Water Drinking Act, according to the office of acting New Jersey Attorney General John J. Hoffman.

O'Rourke's three-year sentences for each charge are to run concurrently. A judge also ordered him to surrended any licenses he holds from the New Jerse Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) and barred him from public employment.

Investigators determined that, during O'Rourke's tenure as manager of the New Brunswick certified environmental lab and licensed operator of both water systems, he and his staff failed to follow testing protocols, and lacked samples and data sufficient for federal and state requirements.

O'Rourke admitted sending false results of more than 200 samples to DEP repeatedly between April 2010 and December 2012, to cover his lack of oversight of sample testing in both communities.

Authorities pointed out that no coliform bacteria surfaced during the 33 months, but that O'Rourke's actions impaired regulators' accurate monitoring capabilities.