Two New York DEP Officials Busted in Robberies
Posted on: Friday, 16 September 2005, 15:00 CDT
Sep. 16--Two top environmental officials turned the city into their personal electronics supplier -- looting more than $12,000 worth of computers and other fancy equipment, authorities said yesterday.
James Benson, 52, who oversaw efforts to keep the city's upstate reservoirs clean, and his co-worker, Lamberto Santos, 55, allegedly used the city's dime to pay for the high-tech gear -- and even ordered deliverymen to load the goods into their cars.
"Taxpayer money is supposed to be used to protect the watershed, educate kids and make our streets safer," said Department of Investigation Commissioner Rose Gill Hearn. "It's not to help outfit a city employee's house."
Authorities said they started probing the duo after a large amount of gear was found missing from the Department of Environmental Protection's upstate headquarters in Valhalla.
Undercover surveillance revealed that much of the equipment being ordered wasn't officially logged in at the city offices. Instead, the crooked officials personally met delivery trucks in the parking lot to make sure some choice items went straight to their homes, authorities said.
Agents said they found Dell and IBM computers, still in their boxes, at Benson's home, along with pricey generators, expensive power tools and several loaded guns.
Santos had computers, a generator and even an outboard motor for a boat at his place in Monsey, N.Y., authorities said.
Benson, who is a town councilman in Pawling, faces up to seven years in prison if convicted of criminal possession of stolen property.
Santos, a civil engineer, reported directly to Benson and joined the agency with him in 1992. He could be sentenced to up to four years behind bars if convicted.
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Source: Daily News
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