Michael Stavola
DERAILED: Pension fraudsters Christopher Parlante (left) and Michael Stavola could face decades in prison. (
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All aboard the express train to disgrace.
Two former LIRR workers pleaded guilty yesterday to participating in a massive pension scam, in which hundreds of Long Island Rail Road pensioners are believed to have bilked the agency of $1 billion by falsely claiming disabilities when they retired.
LIRR retirees Christopher Parlante and Michael Stavola are both cooperating with federal authorities in the ongoing probe of the scheme, which allegedly involved doctors vouching for retirees’ bogus disability claims, according to court records.
That cooperation could lead prosecutors to recommend much-less draconian prison terms than the maximum 85 years faced by Stavola and the 50 years hanging over Parlante’s head when they are sentenced in Manhattan federal court in May.
Parlante, 60, of Oyster Bay, LI, agreed to pay back nearly $295,000 he had received in fraudulent disability benefits.
Stavola, 54, of Massapequa Park, agreed to pay back about $160,000 in benefits he did not deserve.
Parlante and Stavola are among 32 people charged in the scam — most of whom are LIRR retirees.
Four other retirees previously have pleaded guilty.
Prosecutors claim retirees fraudulently boosted their annual benefits by falsely claiming to be disabled when they filed for early retirement.
Two doctors charged in the case allegedly signed off on the bogus diagnoses, which enhanced the retirees’ regular pensions.
Authorities have suggested that up to 1,600 LIRR retirees may have been involved in the scheme. Surveillance of many of the retirees who were criminally charged showed them doing strenuous exercise after claiming to be too hurt to continue working.
Though Parlante claimed to be suffering from neck, back and other pain, the former conductor worked a hefty 1,150 hours in overtime in the two years before he retired — which inflated his pension benefits.
After retiring in 2004, Parlante was spotted on undercover video shoveling “large amounts of snow” at his house “after a heavy snowfall in 2011,” according to a criminal complaint.
Stavola, who had worked as an electrician before retiring in 2008, falsely claimed to be suffering from a back injury when he filed for the disability retirement benefits.
Because of the huge scope of the alleged fraud, authorities offered up to 1,600 retirees an amnesty program in which they would avoid potential prosecution if they admitted falsely claiming to be disabled and forwent future disability payments.
As of last month, just before the deadline for the program, just 44 people had been accepted into it, according to court records.