13 Metro-North workers indicted on test cheating charges

Thirteen current and former MTA workers were indicted Monday on charges they cheated on safety tests required to become Metro-North engineers and conductors, authorities said.

The employees, which include four Westchester residents, are accused of sharing copies of the questions and answers before they took the tests, which help determine how much a candidate knows about critical information including train traffic signals, speed limits and emergency procedures.

Nine of the employees were suspended from their jobs on Friday, and four have been fired, according to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.

"The alleged conduct poses potential dangers far beyond the act of passing answers," Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. said in a release.

Metro-North in a statement called the allegations "extremely disturbing," but said it's "confident that the railroad is safe for its customers and employees, and that every engineer and conductor is competent and qualified to do their jobs."

The tests are one part of a required year-long training program for engineers, who operate the train, and conductors, who are in charge of it.

Metro-North has been under the microscope following the December 2013 derailment in the Bronx that killed four people and injured dozens.

Authorities said the test cheating took place between November 2011 and May 2014 at Grand Central Terminal.

Three prospective engineers allegedly distributed digital copies of three different tests to other candidates, and another candidate allegedly emailed photographs of completed answer sheets to an engineer who was seeking re-certification, authorities said.

Concerns over cheating first surfaced last summer after the MTA received a tip that a would-be conductor allegedly took photos with his smart phone of part of the test and shared the images with several classmates.

As a result, the MTA, Metro-North's parent agency, fired nine rookie conductors and prevented three experienced workers from seeking promotions to conductor. The MTA also asked the MTA Inspector General and MTA Police Department to jointly investigate.

Some of the employees involved in that incident were among the employees indicted Monday, authorities said.

MTA Inspector General Barry Kluger called the workers' conduct "unacceptable and deplorable," but said in a release the railroad's "rigorous cycle of training, performance evaluation and on-the-job testing" gave him assurance that only qualified people were operating Metro-North's trains.

Kluger also worked with Metro-North officials to overhaul the tests. New randomized tests are now used.

The 13 MTA workers were charged with multiple counts of impairing the integrity of a government licensing examination, a felony. Each count carries up to seven years in prison.

Anthony Bottalico, an official with the Association of Commuter Rail Employees, which represents Metro-North workers, did not respond to a message left on his cell phone Monday. A woman who answered the phone at the union's office referred all questions to Bottalico.

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MTA workers charged

Thirteen current and former MTA workers were indicted Monday on charges they cheated on Metro-North safety tests. The felony charge is impairing the integrity of a government licensing examination.

•Melanie Bannister, 34, Bronx, 18 counts

•Bernice Bell, 46, Bronx, two counts

•Danielle Bonge, 45, Lindenhurst, three counts

•Anthony Carbone, 56, North Haven, Conn., three counts

•Omar Carrillo, 28, Irvington, two counts

•Dennis Degenfelder, 36, Holbrook, eight counts

•Donald Finnerty, 47, Yorktown Heights, two counts

•Joseph Fowler, 31, West Haven, Conn., six counts

•Raymond Fuentes, 41, Monroe, two counts

•Patrick Jones, 35, Harrison, two counts

•Sean Macauley, 39, Northford, Conn., two counts

•Coltyn Reindel, 25, North Haven, Conn., one count

•John Twardy, 34, Scarsdale, four counts