By Adam Kramer
A Floral Park, L.I. woman who worked as a New York City Fire Department Emergency Medical Service technician was arrested for altering her time card by increasing her overtime hours, authorities said Friday.
Cindy Earley, of 194 Covert Ave., assigned to Division 1 in Lower Manhattan, was charged with allegedly stealing $8,057 by changing her time sheets and fraudulently padding her overtime hours. Authorities said she claimed more than 250 hours of overtime, which is nearly eight weeks of work. She could face up to seven years in jail if convicted.
“City employees should be paid for only hours actually worked,” said Rose Gill Hern, commissioner of the Department of Investigation. “For this EMS technician to fraudulently pad her time sheet, especially during these tough fiscal times, is particularly inexcusable.”
Earley has been charged with grand larceny, tampering with public records and offering a false instrument for filing. Gill Hern said Earley added hours ranging from seven to 37 to her time sheets for nine months from February to November 2000. There were 297 hours added and paid out in overtime.
Earley could not be reached for comment on the allegations.
Gill Hern said the DOI started investigating Earley in December 2000 after receiving reports of a discrepancy between Earley’s overtime sheets on file at the FDNY headquarters and the Division 1 records.
The Floral Park technician, who is on medical leave, has been with the EMS since April 1991 and was suspended immediately without pay. Her yearly salary was $35,168.
The investigation revealed that Earley was preparing and signing her own time sheets and was using a code designated for late ambulance runs to beef up her overtime hours. As an aide to the EMS division chief, she was not assigned to ambulance duty.
Reach reporter Adam Kramer by e-mail at Timesledgr@aol.com or call 229-0300, Ext. 157.
