ASBURY PARK — The former executive director of a housing authority at the New Jersey shore is headed to prison for diverting more than $90,000 in state grant money so he could give himself unauthorized raises.

Mark Holmes Sr. received a five-year sentence Friday and must pay $35,000 in restitution. The 56-year-old Lawrence Township man had pleaded guilty in January to theft.

Monmouth County prosecutors say Holmes took the money while leading the Asbury Park Housing Authority from December 2008 to June 2011.

The grant money was intended to be spent on computer training and other skills programs for public housing residents in Asbury Park. But authorities say Holmes created a corporation where he funneled some of the funds to give himself a $50,000 salary increase without board approval.

Holmes is also a former Lawrence Township councilman, and was the township's first black mayor.

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