Blue Point Resident Among LIRR Workers Accused In Overtime Scam

BLUE POINT, NY — An LIRR worker from Blue Point was named among the five MTA workers who face federal criminal charges in an overtime scam, Acting Manhattan U.S. Attorney Audrey Strauss announced recently.

Joseph Balestra, 51, was named in the federal complaints along with fellow LIRR employees Thomas Caputo, 56, of Holbrook; Joseph Ruzzo, 56, of Levittown; John Nugent, 50, of Rocky Point; and NYC Transit worker Michael Gunderson, 42, of Manalapan, New Jersey.

The group is accused of claiming to work overtime hours in 2018 when they were actually not working, according to the complaint. The group was accused of claiming overtime hours when they were actually bowling, on vacation or attending concerts, the complaint states.

All the workers face a charge of federal program fraud, which carries up to 10 years in prison if they're convicted. The accusations against the employees is an "egregious betrayal of public trust," said MTA spokesperson Tim Minton, in a statement.

"The MTA has implemented a number of aggressive overtime controls that substantially increase oversight and accountability -- already resulting in a reduction of $105 million in overtime in 2019 alone and the implementation of a five-year plan to cut overtime costs by nearly $1 billion," Minton said. "We will continue to root out waste, fraud and abuse wherever it occurs and will continue cooperating fully with this critically important investigation."

Last year, Patch released the number of LIRR employees who made more than $250,000 in 2018, according to payroll data found on the Empire Center for Public Policy's transparency website, SeeThroughNY.net. The four LIRR workers all made the list.

Balestra made $348,522 as a foreman, according to the data. Caputo made $461,646 as Chief Measurement Operator, Ruzzo made $380,407 as a foreman and Nugent made $350,056 as a foreman, according to the data.