What you should know
- Manhattan prosecutors charged 18 people, including five employees of the city’s homeless services agency, a New York City Police officer, an MTA worker and two postal service mail carriers. USA.
- “Stealing the identity of New Yorkers, many of them homeless, and defrauding a critical social safety net program at one of the most difficult times in our city’s history is downright shameful,” said Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, at a press conference. “This type of behavior by our public servants is unacceptable.”
- In the course of that investigation, they learned that several DHS employees were using their positions to steal personal information from involuntary homeless residents, according to the criminal complaint.
NEW YORK — Several New York City employees were arrested Thursday for their alleged role in a scheme to steal the identities of homeless shelter residents and defraud a pandemic-era relief program.
Manhattan prosecutors charged 18 people, including five employees of the city’s homeless services agency, a New York City Police officer, an MTA worker and two postal service mail carriers. USA.
Beginning in April 2020, prosecutors allege that the defendants worked together to obtain approximately $1.2 million in fraudulent pandemic unemployment benefits by submitting false claims on behalf of 170 people, most of whom live in homeless shelters. managed by the city.
“Stealing the identity of New Yorkers, many of them homeless, and defrauding a critical social safety net program at one of the most difficult times in our city’s history is downright shameful,” said Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, at a press conference. “This type of behavior by our public servants is unacceptable.”
Each of the defendants who were arraigned Thursday afternoon pleaded not guilty to charges including grand larceny, conspiracy and robbery.
Prosecutors said they discovered the benefit fraud while pursuing a separate case against two Department of Homeless Services employees for their alleged involvement in manufacturing ghost guns.
In the course of that investigation, they learned that several DHS employees were using their positions to steal personal information from involuntary homeless residents, according to the criminal complaint.
They also recruited a U.S. postal worker and ordered the Labor Department to send the bank cards to addresses they knew were on their route so they could intercept them, prosecutors said.
As the plan progressed, some of the participants turned against each other. At least two defendants are accused of stealing $30,000 from the home of a co-conspirator, who they believed was hoarding the proceeds.
One of the people allegedly involved in the robbery left her job at DHS for a position with the NYPD, prosecutors said, before rejoining the homeless services agency after she was fired by the department. police in 2022.
A second individual involved in the conspiracy worked as a school safety officer with the NYPD. She was fired Thursday, the police department said.
A DHS spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment.
2024-03-08 04:00:46
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