Steven Kadir was sentenced to 5 years in prison in 2014, and served a little over 1 year.
ROBBINSVILLE — A former Robbinsville career firefighter convicted in 2014 and sent to prison for of falsifying his time sheets lost an appeal of his convictions Friday.
Steven Kadir, 39, was convicted at trial of official misconduct, theft by deception and tampering with official records for falsifying 356 hours of paid leave from 2009 to 2012 while on the Robbinsville Fire Dept.
The paid leave had a value of over $10,000.
During a tear-filled, emotional sentencing hearing later in 2014, in which firefighters and supporters begged for leniency and no jail, a judge sentenced him to five years in prison, with a minimum of a year behind bars.
He was paroled in September.
In his appeal, Kadir argued several points.
Among them are his belief that the administrator who approved the time sheets was negligent in not spotting the differences and correcting them, and that a defense accountant's testimony should have been permitted.
Kadir also argued that a police lieutenant's opinionated remark at trial which was stricken from the record was done so without "specificity and firmness."
A state appeals court rejected all the arguments in a Friday decision.
Robbinsville firefighter sentenced to 5 years for vacation time theft
Also in his appeal, Kadir again raised his diagnosis of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, or ADHD, and said the condition "may have raised reasonable doubt as to whether, as he testified, his inaccurate times sheets resulted from his own mistakes."
The diagnosis, Kadir argued, came after his conviction and should afford him a new trial.
His lawyer, though, raised it after the trial as well, seeking a new trial in 2014, but the trial judge rejected the motion.
The appeals court also rejected the argument, saying while Kadir was an exceptional firefighter, "This is not a situation where defendant made an occasional error submitting his times sheets. The evidence demonstrated he made repeated omissions, by not placing a 'V' on a computerized timesheet, over a four-year period, primarily related to vacation time."
The appeals court also wrote in their decision that a psychological report on Kadir stated that his mother observed he had learning and organizational problems as early as the third grade.
"Thus, defendant had ample opportunity to discover and raise this defense at trial," the appeals decision states.
Kadir had been a Robbinsville fireman since 1998 when he was charged and suspended in 2012.
Kevin Shea may be reached at kshea@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter@kevintshea. Find The Times of Trenton on Facebook.
