A state Health Department information-technology specialist who earns $58,311 a year was arrested on four felony charges today for allegedly forging a doctor’s note to get a handicapped parking spot and filing timecards certifying he was working when he was not, according to Acting State Inspector General Catherine Leahy Scott.
Travis Witt, 27, of Malta, Saratoga County, was charged with four felony counts of first-degree offering a false instrument for filing and one misdemeanor count of third-degree criminal possession of a forged instrument. He could face up to four years in prison if convicted.
Scott said Witt obtained special parking privileges at Empire State Plaza, and he submitted three timecards earlier this year that said he had worked full days when he had not reported to work. Witt, a Health Department employee since 2007, was arraigned before New Scottland Judge David Wukitschand and held in county jail in lieu of $10,000 cash or bond, she said.
“Fraudulently obtaining handicapped parking not only is unlawful, but potentially inhibits the rights of New Yorkers with disabilities in need of accessible parking,” Scott said in a statement. “Further, any fraudulent abuse of time and attendance records undermines public trust. Such conduct is not tolerable.”
3 Comments
Handicap parking permits are for the people with disabilities to use reserved parking spaces in facilities like offices, schools, or apartment complexes. This is really sad to hear that people misuse the facility. The state worker should get stricter punishment so that such malpractices are discouraged in future.
Sure, a small potato working stiff faces 4 YEARS IN JAIL for forging a handicapped parking permit and falsifying work sheets
But Smith Kline Glaxo and other thieves who stole HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS from Medicaid get to pay chump change fines and get to take their vacations in the sun with no talk EVER of any jail time.
Sure, because this Travis fool cant possibly donate to the political party to get off easy?
[...] tax office was caught for misusing a disability placard to avoid paying for parking. Last year, an information-technology specialist in New York Health Department with an annual income of $58,311 a year was arrested for allegedly [...]