Passenger Trains > Two Busted In Caltrain Live-At-Work Scheme

Two former Caltrain workers are facing criminal charges for allegedly using $50,000 in public funds to build private living quarters in the Burlingame, and Millbrae train stations, and then live there, according to a story in Friday's Palo Alto Daily Post.

One was a Caltrain executive, and the other a Caltrain contractor, according to news reports.

The two allegedly kept individual invoices under $3,000 to avoid scrutiny.

I attached screen grabs of the paper's e-edition. The link below goes to the paper's electronic edition, although it expires after a couple of days.



https://issuu.com/brandonheinrichs/docs/3-29-24



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/28/24 22:51 by walstib.

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  i would love it to rent them!

Back in the day, ticket agents would live in apartments over their station buildings - legitimately. LIRR had many of them. 

Use the public's money to fix it up, and then not pay rent for the space??  Brilliant!

Probably the only way they could afford to live in the Bay Area.

Dave

This should be converted to an AirBnB. It's status as a criminal hangout could be a marketing plus. 

Good transit connections downtown, too. 

There is a bad precedent at work here...do not any people who arrange their work station to suit their need become liable to this sort of charge?  California is getting famous for prosecuting things best left to a simple dismissal or being made to make restitution.  Pretty soon, everyone in California will be up before Robespierre and Mme Javert.  Foolish at best, harmful of the worst kind.  and perhaps that is one of many reasons why California is emptying out faster than U-Haul help.

NJ had many of these "agents apartments" upstairs in stations.  As NJ Transit took over, most were non-renewed.  One of the very last was the Mountain Avenue Montclair station on the Erie.  I believe the Benson Street Glen Ridge station was sold to a private individual. That included two apartments upstairs

Uh, yeah. All those U-Hauls going from California to Texas better watch out. It's a felony there too. (It's likely so in every state.)

https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/PE/htm/PE.39.htm

All these law and order folks who then believe in selective application of the law, especially as it might pertain to "their guy" or themselves. (Hopefully these guys were claiming it was a witch hunt when they were arraigned.) This is a little more extreme than taking paper clips from the office supply cabinet. It will be the job of their lawyers to plead it down to probation and restitution, if they can.

a737flyer Wrote:
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> There is a bad precedent at work here...do not any
> people who arrange their work station to suit
> their need become liable to this sort of charge?
>  California is getting famous for prosecuting
> things best left to a simple dismissal or being
> made to make restitution.  Pretty soon, everyone
> in California will be up before Robespierre and
> Mme Javert.  Foolish at best, harmful of the
> worst kind.  and perhaps that is one of many
> reasons why California is emptying out faster than
> U-Haul help.

march_hare Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> This should be converted to an AirBnB. It's status
> as a criminal hangout could be a marketing
> plus. 
>
> Good transit connections downtown, too. 

Suspended sentence and restitution is to have them brought up to code at defendants expense. Contract with a management company to handle the rentals.

It will be interesting to see where this goes. This seems like a hard case to get a jury to convict.  I could see all kinds of justification that the defendants did this because they were working such long hours that they needed a place to work and live because offices were closed and traveling back home was risky with their pre-existing health conditions. Other defenses is they did not intend to keep the living space for themselves, on and on.  They just need sympathy from a single juror.





 

Todd Clark
Canyon Country, CA
Trainorders.com

I suspect that by bringing charges, even if a conviction would be difficult, it will set an example to others. Not only did they lose their jobs and will have a blemish on their resumes, they are incurring legal expenses as well. I'd suspect they will avoid trial and still have a fine, possible repayment of funds or payment for use of the property, and possibly a probation period with a misdemeanor versus felony conviction on their records.

DavidP Wrote:
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> Probably the only way they could afford to live in
> the Bay Area.
>
> Dave

At least, they weren't participating in a selfish, brainless bidding war to "establish" new real estate market prices in the area.

These guys must have watched "The Terminal" with Tom Hanks one too many times.

Just to clarify, despite my sarcasm:  I spent most of my career (non RR) in positions where I would have had authority to either participate or (later) to approve or look the other way for expenditures like this. Nothing at the executive level, just ordinary, in the field, get it done kind of contracting. This includes both private and public agency work. 

I would have expected to be fired on the spot for anything remotely approaching this level of corruption. And in the 30 or so years I spent working for a public agency, I would have expected vigorous criminal prosecution as well. 

Let this go and it will get worse, fast. 

Some companies will intentionally move their purchasing agents, contract reviewers, on-site overseers, etc on a regular basis. Specifically to prevent the folks from getting a little too cosy with suppliers and contractors. Anything over a very modest amount, like $25 could be grounds for termination. No gifts, presents, NCAA tickets, private jet to a weekend at Telluride for skiing, etc.

And bust them, seek restitution, etc if they screw around.