School Custodians Charged With Fraud and Embezzlement in New York

FROM THE NEW YORK TIMES -

The office of the United States attorney for the Southern District of New York and Richard J. Condon, the special investigator for the New York City schools, are expected to announce charges on Wednesday against two custodians who used employees on the school system’s payroll to maintain personal property in Queens. The employees are also being charged in the case.

The case stems from a report released by Mr. Condon’s office in April, in which one of the custodians, Trifon Radef, was accused of running a years-long scheme involving school jobs he was paid for, but did not always perform, instead spending time at a soccer club in Astoria, restaurants and his home.
While Mr. Radef could often be found during the day at his post as a full-time custodian at the Theodore Roosevelt Educational Campus, in the Fordham section of the Bronx, he rarely reported for his night custodial job at Harry S. Truman High School, in Baychester, according to the report.
In the criminal complaint unsealed on Wednesday, Mr. Radef and another custodian, Nicanor Fernandez, were said to have improperly signed school system payroll checks to compensate the employees, who were directed to work on as many as nine buildings Mr. Radef owned in Queens.
The employees being charged in the case are James Coppola, Frank Chambers and Michael Cunningham Sr. Mr. Coppola had been assigned as a handyman at Intermediate School 25 in Queens; Mr. Chambers as a cafeteria worker at Public School 158, also in Queens; and Mr. Cunningham as a custodial fireman at P.S. 158.
The charges against the five men include fraud, embezzlement and theft.
The allegations came to light in January 2010, after two former custodians at the Roosevelt campus reported the case to Mr. Condon’s office. Investigators built their case against Mr. Radef by following him on several occasions last year. They used E-ZPass records to show that, on more than 550 paid work days, he traveled between the Bronx, where he worked, and Queens, where he lived, during work hours.
Mr. Condon’s report also said that Mr. Radef bought construction supplies and paint for buildings he owned with money from the schools’ custodial accounts.