{"id":126765,"date":"2020-12-05T03:17:55","date_gmt":"2020-12-05T00:17:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/accused-mta-overtime-cheat-may-lose-hefty-pension\/"},"modified":"2020-12-05T03:17:55","modified_gmt":"2020-12-05T00:17:55","slug":"accused-mta-overtime-cheat-may-lose-hefty-pension","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/accused-mta-overtime-cheat-may-lose-hefty-pension\/","title":{"rendered":"#Accused MTA overtime cheat may lose hefty pension"},"content":{"rendered":"

“#Accused MTA overtime cheat may lose hefty pension<\/strong>”
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An accused MTA overtime cheat has been collecting a massive pension that the feds say was boosted by pay he didn\u2019t actually earn \u2014 but that gravy train could soon be thrown into reverse!<\/p>\n

Thomas Caputo, 56, of Holbrook, LI, raked in $144,000 in pension benefits during the past year, it was revealed in court following his arrest Thursday.<\/p>\n

The MTA said Friday that if he\u2019s convicted, officials would seek to claw back the proceeds of his alleged scam and slash his pension accordingly.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are pursuing all available options to recoup the stolen overtime and resulting pension,\u201d MTA spokeswoman Abbey Collins said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is an egregious breach of the public\u2019s trust and we will take all necessary actions to root out waste, fraud and abuse wherever it occurs.\u201d<\/p>\n

Caputo, a former LIRR track inspector, took early retirement in March 2019 amid an investigation into the $461,646 he took home the previous year.<\/p>\n

The eye-popping amount \u2014 which made him the agency\u2019s highest-paid employee \u2014 comprised a $117,499-a-year salary and $344,147 for an improbable 3,864 hours of overtime.<\/p>\n

To actually earn that much, Caputo would have had to work more than 10 hours \u201cevery single calendar day in 2018 including weekends and holidays (although he did not)\u2026in addition to his regular, 40-hour work week,\u201d court papers allege.<\/p>\n

Instead, prosecutors said, Caputo \u201cfrequently\u201d spent that time \u201cat home or at other non-work locations,\u201d including a bowling alley in Patchogue, LI.<\/p>\n

And as if that weren\u2019t enough, on several occasions Caputo \u201calso falsely claimed to have worked regular time hours that he did not work,\u201d according to court papers.<\/p>\n

Because transit workers\u2019 pensions are based on the three highest-paid years of the 10 before they retire, the feds said Caputo\u2019s alleged scam increased his pension benefits.<\/p>\n

The MTA wouldn\u2019t say Friday how much of Caputo\u2019s pension was the result of his claimed overtime.<\/p>\n

Last year, The Post visited his home and found renovations that included a brick-and-stone driveway \u2014 but no sign of the broken-down Volkswagen Jetta that a Google Street View camera photographed in 2012.<\/p>\n

Instead, there was a sleek black Audi Q5 in its place, as well as a BMW and a Honda Accord parked nearby.<\/p>\n

No one answered the door at the house on Friday afternoon.<\/p>\n

Caputo is among five current and former MTA workers who were charged with one count each of federal program fraud for allegedly scamming overtime payments from the MTA.<\/p>\n

The charge carries a maximum 10 years in prison.<\/p>\n

Another defendant, Joseph Ruzzo, 56, of Levittown, is also retired, but details of his pension weren\u2019t disclosed.<\/p>\n

The three others, John Nugent, 50, of Rocky Point; Joseph Balestra, 51, of Blue Point; and Michael Gunderson, 42, of Manalapan, N.J., remained employed by the MTA.\n <\/p><\/div>\n

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Source<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“#Accused MTA overtime cheat may lose hefty pension” An accused MTA overtime cheat has been collecting a massive pension that the feds say was boosted by pay he didn\u2019t actually earn \u2014 but that gravy train could soon be thrown into reverse! Thomas Caputo, 56, of Holbrook, LI, raked in $144,000 in pension benefits during…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":126766,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2020\/12\/Thomas-Caputo.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=1200","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[70897],"tags":[82641,70231,70690,71452,77737,73428,71101],"class_list":["post-126765","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-12-4-20","tag-arrests","tag-manhattan-federal-court","tag-mta","tag-overtime","tag-pensions","tag-scams"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/126765","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=126765"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/126765\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/126766"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=126765"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=126765"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=126765"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}