Summary

On May 26, Paul George Styger, owner of a local public use airport in Sussex County, NJ (Sussex Airport, Inc.) pled guilty to an Information in US District Court, Newark, NJ, charging him with one count of theft in connection with embezzling more than $375,000 in Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Airport Improvement Program (AIP) grant funds. Mr. Styger, as owner of Sussex Airport, Inc., applied for and received approximately 6 FAA AIP grants totaling more than $1.3 million to perform improvements at the Sussex airport. Mr. Styger failed to forward funds provided by the FAA to contractors who had completed improvements to the airport. Mr. Styger’s sentencing has been set for Sept. 3, 2009. This investigation was conducted by the OIG with the assistance of the Sussex County Prosecutor’s Office and the FAA.