Former cop, BOCES teacher accused of stealing more than $157K from state pension system
A retired Westchester police officer and former Ulster County BOCES criminal justice instructor is charged with stealing more than $157,000 from the New York State and Local Retirement System.
State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli, Ulster County District Attorney David Clegg and the state police jointly announced the arrest of Anthony Sciacca Thursday.
Sciacca became a criminal justice instructor for the Ulster County BOCES system after retiring from the Westchester County Police Department in 2005.
According to DiNapoli, Sciacca earned a salary of more than $70,000 a year teaching for BOCES. But as a state retiree under the age of 65, Sciacca was not allowed to earn more than $30,000 annually in other public employment while continuing to receive his pension, without a state Retirement and Social Security Law waiver.
DiNapoli said an investigation found that while Sciacca had a lawful waiver from Sept. 1, 2005 through June 30, 2011, he did not have a lawful waiver for the next eight years. During that time, he continued to earn his $70,000 BOCES salary on top of his monthly pension payments.
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He is accused of taking a total of $157,341.78 in unlawful pension payments.
DiNapoli said when Sciacca was questioned about his failure to obtain a waiver, he allegedly submitted forged documents to the retirement system. Those documents falsely showed waivers had been approved by the state Department of Education, DiNapoli said.
Sciacca was charged with one count each of grand larceny and retirement fraud and three counts each of forgery, filing a false instrument and falsifying business records.
Sciacca was arraigned before New Paltz Town Justice Rhett Weires and is due back in court on July 20.
This article originally appeared on Times Herald-Record: Ex-Ulster BOCES teacher, Westchester cop charged with grand larceny
