NEW YORK (1010 WINS) — A Long Island Rail Road conductor pleaded guilty Wednesday to pocketing riders' unpunched tickets for his own personal use.
Robert Anderson, 61, of West Islip, Long Island, copped to the charge of Official Misconduct, a class A misdemeanor, and was fined $1,000 by Acting Suffolk County Court Judge Richard Dunne.
Anderson — who received a $150,000 MTA salary last year, according to seethroughny.net — would collect train tickets from passengers without punching them during a scheme that lasted between April 2019 and Sept. 2020. He'd then either use the unpunched tickets himself or distribute them to his acquaintances who would refund them for cash.
"We hold government employees to a high standard, and when they abuse their positions as custodians of public funds, they need to be held accountable," District Attorney Sini said in a statement. "We will continue to do just that in collaboration with agencies like the MTA Inspector General's Office to ensure residents' hard-earned money is not being mishandled."
Anderson worked for the LIRR from 2004 until right after he was arrested, in April 2021, according to the MTA. He retired on June 1 and is receiving a pension, the agency said.
Undercover investigators from the MTA IG's office caught Anderson after he failed to include their tickets in revenue reports he submitted to the agency on eight separate occasions in 2019 and 2020.
"Justice is on time and on track — riders and taxpayers expect that when they pay a train fare it is going to support the railroad, not into an LIRR conductor's pockets," said MTA Inspector General Carolyn Pokorny.
Anderson was initially charged with four felony counts and eight misdemeanor counts that could have carried up to four years in prison.
LIRR President Phil Eng thanked the MTA IG and Suffolk County DA for their investigation in a statement, adding "the actions engaged in do not represent the professionalism and integrity of the vast majority of the LIRR's hard-working employees."
"The LIRR has zero tolerance for fraud of any type and we continue to implement measures to deter and prevent unacceptable actions such as this," Eng said.
