Vito Costa has a compliance hearing today in Westchester County Criminal Court before Judge John P. Colangelo.
Costa was arrested on August 14, 2009 and plead guilty on April 7, 2010 to Grand Larceny in the 3rd Degree and Falsify Business Records in the 2nd Degree. Under a plea agreement, Costa received Interim Probation and will be re-sentenced on April 6, 2011 on the misdemeanor charge of Falsifying Billing Records. Costa was required to make restitution to the City School District of New Rochelle. At the time of his sentencing he had repaid $40,000 to the school district. The New Rochelle Board of Education had previously authorized litigation against Costa.
Sources tell Talk of the Sound that Costa held his “no show” job as an HVAC engineer for years all while routinely pilfering HVAC supplies for use by his own company. Costa worked for his own company at times when he was “on the clock” supposedly working for the City School District of New Rochelle.
Despite this, none of Costa’s supervisors in the Buildings and Grounds Department have been implicated in signing phony time sheets, falsifying inventory records or filing phony purchase orders — something the district was criticized for by the Office of State Comptroller in the most recent State audit of the district.
Costa was recently fired just days after being hired as Assistant Director of Maintenance by the SUNY College of Optometry in Manhattan as a result of a story published on Talk of the Sound. Ann Warwick, a spokesperson for the college, declined to explain how or why an institution of public education in New York would hire a recently convicted felon who admitted to stealing tens of thousands of dollars from another institution of public education in New York.
Maybe they did’nt ask?
Flipout’s comment is right on target with respect to the funds paid back by Costa.
I recently applied for a home mortgage and the bank wanted to know where the $100,000 deposit money came from, and I had to prove it with paperwork, every penny.
I kept telling them I kept the money in my mattress but that did not work!
Another question for the day~
Where did Costa get the $40,000 to repay the school district???? All I know is that I dont have that amount “handy”!
You Have to Get Dirty!
While this story has made the headlines in the last two weeks, the content today is sort of “recycled” and stale at this point.
Robert you will need to get more new details and twist’s on the past Supervisors who signed Costa time sheets to make this story pop again. These are the people that are hiding in the dark waiting for their turn in the gallows.
Seek and you shall find….
If I knew…
If I knew who did what I would have reported it.
I find it hard to imagine that Mr. Costa was flying solo on this. In fact, by definition he could not have been. Someone had to sign off on what he was doing. I intend to keep raising this story on the other people involved in this are held to account.
I have to believe that he was offered a no-show job, that there was some sort of deal in place, that the same people who allowed him to steal from the school district were and are allowing other people to steal from the district and then the proceeds are divided up.
I believe the district knows who these people are afraid to do anything about it.
Ironically, the same people who cheerlead for the district and discuss the budget solely in terms of paying teachers salaries have their head in the sand when it comes to the wholesale theft going on outside the classrooms. How many millions are being siphoned off by buildings and grounds and security?