Access A Ride Driver Scammed MTA For 70K
The old saying of someone scamming someone happens every day of the year continues to ring true. The latest scammer is James Laverty, a 72 year old Access A Ride driver who scammed the MTA for nearly $70,ooo dollars. Erik Bascome of The Staten Island Advance has more:
An Access-A-Ride driver has been charged with submitting hundreds of fake ride claims to the MTA to the tune of nearly $70,000, authorities said.
On Friday, MTA Inspector General Carolyn Pokorny and Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced that 72-year-old James Laverty has been charged with grand larceny in the second degree, identity theft in the first degree and falsifying business records in the first degree for allegedly submitting bogus claims to the MTA for phony rides.
In 2019, the MTA partnered with Curb Mobility to give Access-A-Ride users the opportunity to request on-demand Access-A-Ride trips through a smart phone app.
According to Katz, sometime in September 2020, a Queens woman downloaded the app and requested two rides — for both Laverty was the driver.
An analysis of Laverty’s monthly reimbursement requests showed that he had claimed to have picked up the same woman 661 times over a six-month span, from September 2020 through February 2021.
The MTA issued reimbursements to Curb for those 661 trips, which totaled $69,860.
However, upon investigation from the Office of the MTA Inspector General, Laverty was observed driving alone in his car during times in which he claimed to be transporting the woman.
If convicted, Laverty faces up to 15 years in prison.
Click here for the complete story.
I hope he gets charged & serves the maximum sentence to show that these actions will not be tolerated.
xoxo Transit Blogger
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