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He got run over by the “gravy train.”
A former LIRR worker who got caught doing manual labor after retiring on disability became the first of nearly two dozen defendants to admit his role in a $1 billion pension scam.
Gary Satin, 62, pleaded guilty yesterday to charges that he schemed to defraud the federal Railroad Retirement Board and lied to a Manhattan federal grand jury.
The crimes carry a maximum 10 years in the slammer, but Satin’s plea bargain with prosecutors calls for no more than two and a half years behind bars.
He also agreed to cough up $247,000 in corrupt benefit payments, or surrender anything he bought with the crooked cash.
Satin, who now lives in Mooresville, NC, took early retirement as a railroad electrician in 2005, and claimed he could no longer work due to chronic back pain.
As a result, he pocketed $36,468 in disability payments in 2010, in addition to $32,991 in pension payments that year, court records show.
According to the Manhattan US Attorney’s Office, Satin also “exploited his false disability to obtain other benefits,” including a handicapped-parking pass.
But he was exposed by an unidentified acquaintance who in 2008 videotaped him installing an underground irrigation system.
Investigators also spoke to a North Carolina woman who paid Satin several thousand dollars to install ceiling fans and perform electrical and carpentry work in her home.
According to the feds, Satin perpetrated his scam after paying $750 for a phony disability diagnosis from a Long Island orthopedist, Dr. Peter Ajemian, who’s also charged in the case.
Ajemian and two other doctors — one of whom has since died — allegedly ran “disability mills” to help LIRR workers claim work-related injuries.
“The money train has come to a halt for Gary Satin as it will for others,” said Manhattan US Attorney Preet Bharara.
“As he acknowledged today, his disability and its timing were part of a pre-planned scam designed to game the system. What’s worse, in an effort to cover up his fraud, he lied to a grand jury. He will now answer for his crimes.”
In court, Satin offered no explanation for his fraud, but said his perjury before the grand jury — where he denied earning any income following his retirement — came after he “panicked” during questioning.
“I made a wrong decision. I should have corrected it then,” he added.
Satin, who remains free on bond pending sentencing, declined to comment further afterward.
The trial of Satin’s co-defendants, including Ajemian, is currently set for Feb. 11, 2013.
In addition to pursuing their investigation, the feds have offered amnesty to more than 1,500 other LIRR retirees suspected of scamming disability pensions.
Terms of the offer require retirees to forgo future disability payments if they sign up by Sept. 14, and to also pay back half of what they already swindled if they sign up by Oct. 15.
Officials wouldn’t say yesterday how many people have accepted the offer.