WHITE PLAINS – A former senior investigator with the New York Power
Authority was arrested and pled guilty on Friday to federal charges of
conspiring to defraud his former state agency and for filing a false 2010
5ax return to hide substantial income from the government.
Stephen Sheridan, 54, of Valley Cottage conspired to defraud NYPA in connection
with a $3 million landscaping and maintenance contract awarded to a co-conspirator’s
company, Over Rock Construction, LLC.
Sheridan, who left NYPA in 2007 for reasons unrelated to the charges,
helped the owner of the company skim money that should have gone to the
employees who did the work, and fraudulently received reimbursement from
NYPA for fake, “no show” employees.
As a result, Sheridan received hundreds of thousands of dollars that were
supposed to go to the working employees. He also filed a false tax return
for 2010, according to a two-county felony charge filed in US District
Court in White Plains.
Sheridan’s fraud conspiracy charge carries a maximum of 20 years
in prison; his tax charge carries a maximum penalty of three years in
prison. Each charge carries a maximum fine of $250,000.
In June 2015, Sheridan’s neighbor and co-conspirator, Thomas Delaney,
46, of Valley Cottage, owner of Over Rock Construction, pled guilty to
federal charges of conspiring to defraud NYPA and to a tax violation.
In October 2009, Over Rock was awarded a five-year, $3 million contract
to perform landscaping, snow removal and masonry work at NYPA’s
administrative offices in White Plains.
To generate illicit cash for those involved in the scheme, Delaney, with
the assistance of his co-conspirators, submitted fraudulent certified
payroll statements and invoices to NYPA for reimbursement for individuals
who performed no services on behalf of his company of NYPA. The overcharges
paid by NYA totaled more than $400,000.
Delaney also pled guilty and faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison.
In December 2015, a third man, Peter Shine, 42, of Orangeburg, pled guilty
to filing a false tax return as part of the scheme and faces up to three
years in prison and a fine.
All three men are awaiting sentencing.
