Ex-Westchester County police officer indicted for pension fraud and forgery
Anthony Sciacca, a retired Westchester County police officer and former Ulster County BOCES criminal justice instructor Anthony, was indicted for the alleged theft of more than $163,000 from the New York State and Local Retirement System (NYSLRS) through unlawful pension payments and forging a required certificate purportedly issued by the State Education Department (SED).
After retiring from the Westchester Police Department in 2005, Sciacca was hired as an instructor at Ulster County BOCES teaching criminal justice and earning a salary of over $70,000. As a state retiree under the age of 65 at the time, without a waiver, Sciacca was not allowed to earn more than $30,000 annually in other public employment while continuing to receive his pension.
However, 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. Continued to earn his Ulster County BOCES public salary in excess of $70,000 on top of his monthly pension payments. But when the retirement system discovered that Sciacca”™s income was over the limit and that it had no waivers on file, Sciacca”™s pension was suspended and he was asked to provide copies of any waivers he had been granted.
According to the charges against him, Sciacca supplied the retirement system with falsified documents stating his waivers had been approved. This enabled him to fraudulently collect over $163,000 in pension payments.
Furthermore, SED also discovered that Sciacca had allegedly forged a document to show that he had received a “Security Operations, Professional Certificate,” which was a requirement of his continued BOCES employment.
Sciacca was charged with Scheme to Defraud, Grand Larceny, Defrauding the Government, four counts of Forgery, two counts of Offering a False Instrument for Filing, two counts of Falsifying a Business Record and Retirement Fraud. The charges add to those first brought against him when he was arrested on July 14, 2022, which then included Grand Larceny, three counts of Forgery, three counts of Filing a False Instrument, three counts of Falsifying Business Records and one count of retirement fraud.
“The defendant allegedly submitted forged documents to scam the New York state retirement system,” said New York State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli. “He will now face the consequences of his actions. Safeguarding the New York State and Local Retirement System and maintaining its integrity are priorities for my office. I thank District Attorney Clegg, the State Education Department and the State Police for their partnership in holding accountable those who think they can swindle the pension system.”