Ahern
WHITE PLAINS – A 60-year-old Armonk man was arraigned Monday on
charges of grand larceny and rewarding official misconduct, both as felonies,
in connection with a phony bus scam.
William Ahern owned A Plus Transportation in Yonkers. It is alleged that
working together with co-defendant Anna Sollozzo, the transportation supervisor
for the Yonkers Board of Education, they stole some $280,000 from the
City of Yonkers for bus services that were never provided for the Nepperhan
Community Center.
The two created a phantom bus route by invoicing the board of ed for bus
pickups at the community center, when in fact, no buses were ever dispatched.
Ahern then submitted false invoices for the services that were never provided
and Sollozzo would knowingly approve the documents for payment, even though
the services were never provided.
During the same period, Ahern was secretly depositing money into Sollozzo’s
personal bank account totaling $107,250.
A Plus Transportation had contracted for bus services with the City of
Yonkers totaling about $2.8 million for that time period of September
24, 2012 to February 7, 2014.
Sollozzo also failed to pay $282,398 in New York State income tax.
The fraud came to light as the Yonkers inspector general was investigating
an unrelated.
Bail was set for Ahern at $25,000. He faces from three to 15 years in
state prison if convicted.
Sollozzo, 54, of Yonkers, was sentenced on June 1 to two to six years
in state prison on charges of grand larceny and criminal tax fraud, both
as felonies.
