An air traffic controller
from Long Island was charged in federal court in Brooklyn on Thursday
in a scheme to steal more than $170,000 from the Federal Aviation
Administration by manipulating payroll records.
Kennedy Airport
controllers Jeffrey Evagues, 54, of Manorville and Asof Ali, 38, of
Queens are charged with modifying computer records at least 300 times
from 2011 to 2014 to indicate they worked when they were in fact out
sick, on vacation or taking weekly time off, records show.
Evagues,
according to a criminal complaint, made an entry Feb. 22 to indicate he
worked eight hours on Feb. 9, when his cellphone records indicated he
was in Mililani, Hawaii, 4,900 miles away. He was paid $578.16 for the
time he didn't work, prosecutors said.
The government said
it had security camera footage showing Evagues and Ali entering the room
with the payroll computer at Kennedy Airport minutes before the time
when modifications were made in their records.
Evagues, a 27-year
FAA employee who has been at Kennedy Airport since 2002, claimed
unearned pay of $87,000, the government charged. Ali, who has been at
Kennedy since 2009, took $83,000, according to authorities.
Both
men were arrested Thursday and charged with stealing federal employee
benefits and payroll. They were released on bail after a court
appearance. Their attorneys did not return calls for comment.
"For
three years these air traffic controllers engaged in a high-flying
scheme to redirect public funds into their own bank accounts," Brooklyn
U.S. Attorney Loretta Lynch said. "Today they were grounded."
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