The Journal News picked up our story on Vito Costa pleading guilty here: New Rochelle school worker pleads guilty to falsifying records.
[We scooped ’em again! :-)]
For some reason school officials, by which I take that to mean either Schools Superintendent Richard Organisciak of PR Person Maggie Skau, declined to say what he was doing:
Costa would claim that he worked from 7 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. on school grounds between March 18 and April 15, when he actually spent part of the time doing unrelated activities, which officials did not disclose
What he was doing ought to be made clear by the decision of the school board to approve litigation against Costa, which we reported in December 2009.
The New Rochelle Board of Education voted unanimously last night to begin litigation against Vito Costa and A 2 Z Heating and Air Conditioning and V & M Vending, two companies controlled by Costa. Costa is now facing up to 7 years in prison after he was arrested in August and charged with Grand Larceny and Falsifying Business records, a story first reported here on Talk of the Sound in June.
Costa was off installing HVAC systems for private clients while being paid by the school district.
Does anyone think that Vita Costa is the only public employee in New Rochelle who is engaged in this sort of double-dipping? Does anyone think that no one, not even the person signing his time sheets, knew that Costa was not on the job for the hours he claimed?
