A knife-wielding MTA worker was fired after the MTA Inspector General recorded an apparent fencing operation run from a Time Square construction site where people identified as “homeless” exchanged bags of stolen goods for cash, according to an investigation released Monday. Another worker is still awaiting discipline.
During one transaction that appeared to go sideways, the IG observed a supervisor accept stolen goods then brandish a knife against the throat of the seller on the rush hour sidewalk.
“Both employees admitted to purchasing goods and the maintenance supervisor retrieved a 1.75-liter bottle of Dewar’s White Label Blended Scotch Whiskey from his locker, which was approximately two-thirds empty,” wrote Elizabeth Keating, acting MTA Inspector General, in the report.
The MTA said the two were removed from duty following an investigation.
“NYCT employees are held to a high standard as outlined in the MTA All-Agency Code of Ethics,” said MTA spokesperson Meghan Keegan. “Reckless behavior that violates that code and the public’s trust is not tolerated.”
According to the IG report, which included surveillance over a two-hour period in May 2022, four unidentified people “believed to be homeless” brought sacks of stolen goods to the back of the New York City Transit construction trailer on 44th Street. They would knock on the trailer’s door and hand over the goods, the report said.
The workers, who were only identified by their job function – maintenance supervisor and structure maintainer – took the bags inside the trailer and returned to give the seller cash, according to the investigation.
The only stolen items investigators were able to identify were two cases of beer, which the sellers were not able to fence, or resell for a profit.
The report said the IG had initially received a tip about the fencing operation, but did not specify for how long it had gone on undetected.
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