Tag: criminal public employees

Bill Would Tighten Pension Rules for Convicted Public Workers

Mary Pat Campbell

Link: https://www.governing.com/finance/bill-would-tighten-pension-rules-for-convicted-public-workers

Excerpt:

New Jersey would make it harder for public employees who commit crimes to collect their pensions under a bill legislators are fast-tracking through the state Assembly.

The proposed reforms to the state’s pension law were recommended without discussion Thursday, Sept. 29, by the Assembly Judiciary Committee, just one week after they were introduced. That allows the measure to move to the Assembly floor for a vote expected on Monday.

The legislation would tighten the criteria under which pension boards decide whether former government workers convicted of on-the-job misconduct should lose some or all of their pensions. It would also expand the list of offenses that automatically disqualify public employees from receiving those benefits.

….

That change would take more pension decisions out of the hands of the state’s retirement boards, which are often reluctant to strip officials of their full pensions, under a process in which they weigh offenders’ misconduct against the good they did throughout their careers. The proposal would also revamp how boards consider those factors, making it easier for them to refuse to grant benefits.

To become law, the bill would have to pass the Assembly and Senate and be signed by Gov. Phil Murphy. So far, no Senate version has been introduced, and its potential fate in the upper chamber remains unclear.

Author(s): Riley Yates, NJ.com

Publication Date: 30 Sept 2022

Publication Site: Governing

DiNapoli: Chatham Police Chief Sentenced for Pension Double-Dipping

Mary Pat Campbell

Link: https://www.osc.state.ny.us/press/releases/2021/07/dinapoli-chatham-police-chief-sentenced-pension-double-dipping

Excerpt:

Former Village of Chatham Chief of Police Peter Volkmann was sentenced to pay $92,829 in restitution and perform 200 hours of community service today for defrauding the New York State pension system by concealing his unlawful post-retirement public income and for stealing from the village through sham requests for reimbursement. His fraud was discovered during a joint investigation by State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli, Columbia County District Attorney Paul Czajka, and the New York State Police.

…..

Volkmann pleaded guilty in February to grand larceny in the fourth degree for circumventing New York state’s post-retirement income restrictions and cheating the New York State and Local Retirement System out of $74,222. Volkmann hid public-source income from 19 municipalities and school districts in excess of the statutory limit by funneling the earnings through a private business, PF Volkmann & Associates. He also pled to official misconduct, a misdemeanor, for stealing $18,607 from the Village of Chatham by falsifying mileage vouchers and other reimbursements to increase his income. 

Volkmann, 57, of Stuyvesant, served as a Chief of Police for the town of Stockport until 2016. He was also the Chief of Police for the Village of Chatham since the fall of 2013 and he served as unpaid Commissioner of the Hudson Police Department from January 2020, until this investigation became public.

Author(s): Thomas DiNapoli

Publication Date: 19 July 2021

Publication Site: NY State Comptroller

Former IHS doctor stripped of federal pension and benefits

Mary Pat Campbell

Link: https://www.blackhillsfox.com/2021/03/16/former-ihs-doctor-stripped-of-federal-pension-and-benefits/

Excerpt:

RAPID CITY, S.D. (KEVN) – A former Indian Health Service doctor has been stripped from his federal pension after being convicted of sexually assaulting his patients while working on the Pine Ridge Reservation.

The doctor, Capt. (ret.) Stanley Patrick Weber, worked for IHS for three decades and was an officer for the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps.

In September 2018, Weber was convicted of sexually assaulting young boys under his care. That didn’t stop his government pension or benefits though. For the past year, a U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps Board of Inquiry was formed to find grounds to strip Weber of his honorable-discharge status and federal pension in June 2019.

Publication Date: 16 March 2021

Publication Site: KEVN

Guilty of bribery and extortion, ex-public employees still collect public pensions

Mary Pat Campbell

Link: https://www.wxyz.com/news/local-news/investigations/after-admitting-to-bribery-and-extortion-ex-public-employees-still-collect-public-pensions

Excerpt:

In 2017, a law was passed that attempted to make forfeiture of a crooked public employee’s pension mandatory, or at least easier to pursue. But a 7 Action News investigation reveals it has seldom been used, and Michigan’s Attorney General was not even familiar with it.

Former Detroit Police officers James Robertson, Jamil Martin and Anthony Careathers were charged by prosecutors when it was revealed that each was extorting collision shop owners on the job.

Author(s): Ross Jones

Publication Date: 4 March 2021

Publication Site: WXYZ