New Jersey man indicted on charges he stole nearly $80,000 worth of fuel from Atlantic County

A New Jersey man was recently indicted by a grand jury on charges that he stole tens of thousands of dollars' worth of diesel fuel from county-owned pumps.

The Atlantic County Prosecutor's Office said Joseph Jenkins-Ridley, of Mays Landing, was indicted on second-degree official misconduct, theft and conspiracy for leading a "large-scale diesel-fuel theft operation" while working as a supervisor in the county's Public Works department.

An investigation started in May 2025 after the Atlantic County Department of Public Works notified law enforcement of discrepancies in its diesel fuel logs, officials said.

According to the prosecutor's office, Jenkins-Ridley used his access as a supervisor to fill up trucks owned by his private business, Z5 Logistics, with fuel from Atlantic County's fuel pumps. Officials said the 48-year-old also instructed his employees to fuel their trucks "almost daily" at the county pumps since March 2023.

The estimated amount of fuel stolen over the course of three years was just under $80,000, the prosecutor's office said.