NEW YORK (1010 WINS) — A former Long Island Rail Road foreman was sentenced Thursday to five months in prison for his role in an overtime fraud scheme.
The Daily News reported John Nugent, 51, was sentenced after pleading guilty in July to charges related to his years-long involvement in an overtime scheme, in which he claimed to regularly work lengthy shifts that he never showed up to.
“This was an orgy of overtime fraud,” Manhattan Federal Judge Paul Engelmayer said during the sentencing, according to the report. “This was not a victimless crime. The money came from the hardworking taxpayers.”
Nugent reportedly filed for nearly 3,000 hours of overtime on top of his regular pay in 2018. He was paid $350,000 during the year, making him the 11th highest-paid employee at the MTA, the Daily News reported.
Nugent was one of four other LIRR employees – Thomas Caputo, Joseph Ruzzo, Joseph Balestra and Frank Pizzonia – who faced charges in connection with the overtime fraud scheme.
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The Daily News reported that the five would regularly cover for one another while they took turns playing hooky.
Meanwhile, as a foreman, Nugent was able to assign and approve his own overtime, according to the paper.
Nugent was the first LIRR worker to be sentenced for the scam.
Nugent and his four co-conspirators were not the only employees who allegedly abused overtime at the MTA.
After the MTA shelled out over $224 million for overtime in 2018, then-MTA Chairman Pat Foye ordered a crackdown on abuse, and the agency upgraded its time clock system to prevent more fraud.
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