Westchester County District Attorney Janet DiFiore recently announced charges against William Ahern, owner of A Plus Transportation in Yonkers, and Anna Sollozzo, who worked as a transportation supervisor for the Yonkers Board of Education, for allegedly defrauding the city out of approximately $280,000 for school bus services over the course of nearly two years.
- William Ahern
- Anna Sollozzo
According to DiFiore’s office, Ahern submitted false invoices for bus services that were never provided and Sollozo would knowingly approve the invoices for payment.
“The allegations outlined in the complaint are the essence of fraud, corruption and mismanagement,” DiFiore said. “How many music or art classes could have been maintained with that misappropriated money?”
The defendants were arrested on April 30 by detectives from the Yonkers Police Department.
Ahern, 59, of Armonk, was arraigned on a felony complaint charging him with second-degree grand larceny and rewarding official misconduct.
Sollozzo, 52, of Yonkers, was arraigned on a felony complaint charging her with second-degree grand larceny, criminal tax fraud, reward for official misconduct, three counts of criminal tax fraud and three counts of offering a false instrument for filing.
According to the statement from DiFiore’s office, between Sept. 24, 2012, and April 11, 2014, Ahern and Sollozzo created a phantom bus route by invoicing the school board for bus pickups at the Nepperhan Community Center in Yonkers when in fact no buses were ever dispatched.
During the same period, the statement said, Ahern was secretly depositing money into Sollozzo’s personal bank account totaling $107,250.
The fraud came to light as the Yonkers inspector general investigated an unrelated complaint, DiFiore’s office said.
Ahern and Sollozzo’s next court appearances are pending and each faces a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison.
