Court clerk gets probation in NJ terror suspect ticket fix


CAMDEN (AP) — A municipal court clerk who admitted fixing two traffic tickets for one of the men accused of plotting to attack soldiers on Fort Dix has been sentenced to two years probation.

Debra H. Benecke, 49, of Pennsauken, was sentenced Friday after pleading guilty in December to tampering with public records when she was a Cherry Hill court clerk.

As part of her plea agreement Benecke is barred from holding any government job in New Jersey.

Dritan Duka was charged with making an illegal U-turn and driving without a license in October of 2006. Authorities say Benecke helped him out of his court date by marking the tickets to make it appear that they had been adjudicated when they had not.

Prosecutors said they learned about the ticket fix from material in the federal terrorism case, although the investigation revealed that the matter was unrelated to any alleged terrorist activity.

At the plea hearing in December, Benecke’s lawyer, Scott Schweiger, said Benecke felt bad for Duka, a father of five who worked for his family’s roofing company and was an undocumented immigrant.

Duka and four other men, all foreign-born Muslims, are awaiting trial in the alleged plot to kill soldiers. An attack was never carried out.


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