Arrest 4 COs In Sick Leave Forgery Scam

Four veteran city Correction Officers were arrested last week for allegedly submitting forged doctors' notes to receive more than $55,000 in paid sick leave, the Department of Investigations said.

Two of the officers, Marlyne Gonzalez and Karen Kates, claimed they were pregnant and that they had been ordered by doctors to undergo complete bed rest, authorities said. The other officers, Kim Corbett and Jill Holloway, faked being sick, according to DOI.

'Corrupt and Absurd'

"The outlandish schemes perpetrated by these defendants were not only corrupt but absurd," said DOI Commissioner Rose Gill Hearn. "They should have learned long ago that pretending to be sick is the oldest and least successful trick in the book."

According to DOI, Ms. Gonzalez allegedly gave the Department of Correction at least 30 forged doctors' notes alleging she was pregnant between July 2000 and January 2005. She missed approximately 230 days of work and received more than $34,000 in sick pay, authorities said. The five-year veteran officer resigned last April.

Ms. Kates received more than $14,800 in undeserved sick pay for missing more than 60 days of work, investigators said. She admitted to DOI that she purchased the forged doctors' notes, and has since been fired.

Ms. Holloway, a nine-year veteran of the department, received more than $6,000 in false sick pay claims from January through March last year, DOI said.

Ms. Corbett, a 14-year DOC veteran, received more than $5,000 in unwarranted sick pay claims from March 2004 through July 2005, according to investigators.

"By forging these doctors' notes, these Correction Officers essentially robbed not only the city but also New York taxpayers," Ms. Hearn said.

The officers have been charged with various felonies, including grand larceny and criminal possession of a forged instrument. They each face up to four years in prison if convicted of the most serious offenses.

"The union will do everything possible to ensure Officers Corbett and Holloway receive a fair trial," remarked Michael Skelly, the spokesman for the Correction Officers' Police Benevolent Association. "And we will vigorously defend them until they are exonerated of these charges."