Here is the verbiage from Kristina Casey:

Warning: it’s a long post! But it is what I asked about at last night’s BOS meeting.
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Cowan Investigations: $2,500; Invoice No. 1, “security check”, August 27, 2025

While looking for items in WVT’s bills lists that may pertain to the commercially-marketed-venue-in-my-residential-neighborhood, I found this one. It stood out as a new vendor and had a weird description (“security check”). It was also around the time my personal email and social media had gotten hacked.

Cowan Investigations is a NJ PI firm of ex-cops that promotes assisting with marital issues (cheating spouses, alimony, bug sweeps, etc.) with some “private sector” business thrown in (litigation support, background checks).

On August 6, 2025, my position was eliminated. Tom left the building that morning and had the treasurer and an attorney deliver the news. I was asked to sign a separation agreement, which I did not do; I said I wanted to have my attorney look at it (spoiler: I never signed it). I gave up keys and passwords for various accounts before I left that day, except for one. I was asked to turn over the username and password to the WVT FB page: a request for something that does not exist specific to that page.

Back in July, Tom had asked me for that same info, and I explained to him that there IS no username/password specific to that page; I was just an admin of the page through my personal FB account. I did not create the page. It was created many years ago by Erica, a former township manager (at least that was what I was told). Through the years, various folks had been added/removed as administrators of that page. However, those folks had to have active FB user accounts because that is who FB holds accountable for the postings. That July, Tom admitted he did not understand social media because he didn’t have accounts. However, he said his daughters did, and he would have them create an account for him. But he never did that before I left.

So, on my last day, I was asked for my PERSONAL username and password for FB. I declined, but I did offer to immediately add anyone else as an administrator to the township FB page before I left. The treasurer shook her head “no”, and the permit clerk said he didn’t use social media. There was no one else. I said to contact me later that day with an account to add. That day passed with no contact.

Three weeks later, after back-and-forth with the attorneys, the treasurer contacted me directly about the FB account and was told per my attorney that all communication was supposed to be through him.

I do not think the township liked that response because on September 23, I got a notification from Google that someone was accessing my personal email on a computer located at the township building during township hours. MY PERSONAL EMAIL. I clicked that it was “not me” but that person was already into my personal account.

That night, I saw notifications via my personal FB account that there was activity going on with the WVT FB page (which I had never accessed since the day I left). Namely, someone had gone in as me and re-activated Kathy Shillenn’s administration rights to that page (Kathy was the township secretary before me), and between the 2 accounts had deleted each and every post I had made on the Township FB page since I had started (a big no-no per Sunshine Law), AND they were attempting to post as Kathy… using HER personal FB account. I contacted Kathy… and it was not her. She asked me to get her off that page again. It took quite a while of interacting with the person posing as her to get it to stop. I believe it was around 11:30pm.

The next day, Kathy and I filed police reports with the WVTPD. I confirmed that accessing someone else’s personal email and social media is ILLEGAL even if you have access to the passwords.

But as you might have figured out, Tom apparently does what he wants regardless of the law… until he gets caught. So just like when he was told about having to send RTK requests electronically for electronic copies that already exist (not doing so is ILLEGAL), he was also told that he and/or his “people” had to stop ILLEGALLY going into our accounts. And it all stopped. And the deleted FB posts were restored (but not by the township).

The township administration is not technologically savvy. That was seen when it took months to remove my name from the township videos of the BOS meetings. And it took them until early January 2026 to reach out to my attorney with a new FB account to add as an administrator: Thomas Ryan (manager@westvincenttwp.org). On January 5, I sent an invitation to that account to be an administrator to the township FB page. My attorney got a response on January 15 that they needed a password to that page. THERE IS NO PASSWORD. But I sent the invitation AGAIN. I confirmed with Kathy that there was not a password needed when she originally added me. I have never been prompted for a password for that page EVER. The only password for FB is for my PERSONAL ACCOUNT.

Okay, so let’s jump back to Cowan Investigations. Their website talks about things like getting electronic items from “cheating spouses” and such. Maybe THIS company had something to do with illegally accessing my email and social media?? Because it doesn’t seem like the administration has the ability to figure these things out on their own.

So I asked about it last night at the meeting. The BOS was NOT surprised to hear that the township was involved in illegally accessing my personal accounts (good to know that they seem to be okay with that… watch how the chair turns to Tom to question if it was related to “something” and Tom quickly shuts her down… just like the RTK situation).

So the whole group refused to answer my question: WHAT EXACTLY WAS THIS $2500 “SECURITY CHECK” DONE BY THIS NJ PI COMPANY THAT OUR CURRENT SECURITY PROVIDERS AND/OR WVPD COULDN’T HAVE HANDLED?

Silence. I expected that because they are full of secrecy. So I will submit the RTKs for my questions. But it is another bad look for this township manager and the board that hired him.

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And on a side note, my neighbors got some of the info we requested on our RTK about the venue. SOME. Luckily, I had other feelers out and was able to get some missing emails…. Once the attorney finishes the paperwork, expect to see more… much more…

And on a final note, in case anyone wants to play the “disgruntled ex-employee” card… that is far from the case. I disclosed none of this on social media until the township decided to play fast and loose on the zoning in my neighborhood. If that never happened, you would not have heard from me. But having this issue of a “commercially advertised event venue in my residential neighborhood” be repeatedly ignored by the manager and the board made me decide to make some noise because people need to see just who is running our township. And it ain’t pretty…