NYPD Hispanic Sergeant Charged With 9/11 Fund Fraud | The State
“He took advantage of his position to lie,” according to the prosecution
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Sally Spinosa, current former NYPD sergeant, allegedly lied saying she had worked on 9/11 recovery efforts to obtain medical benefits and cash, authorities said.
Spinosa, now 55, claimed to the World Trade Center (WTC) Health Program to have worked for 10 months at the Fresh Kills landfill in Staten Island beginning in September 2001, according to a criminal complaint.
That program provides medical treatment to people who were exposed at disaster and recovery sites from the attacks in Lower Manhattan in 2001.
“After the September 11 attacks in New York City, the brave men and women of the NYPD risked their lives and safety to rebuild the city,” recalled Acting United States Attorney Audrey Strauss. As alleged, former New York Police Department Sgt Sally Spinosa, he took advantage of his position by blatantly and falsely claiming to have worked hundreds of hours in the recovery effort.
The indictment was made yesterday by Strauss, the NYPD Commissioner Dermot Shea, and Russell W. Cunningham, Special Agent of the Department of Justice.
The 33-year-old veteran allegedly lied again in 2014 when she requested a payment from the 9/11 Compensation Fund, which distributes monetary awards to victims of the attack and to people who were injured during subsequent clean-up efforts.
Spinosa told the organization that he was in the landfill for two hours a day for 62 days in a row after the Twin Towers collapsed, providing an affidavit allegedly signed by a supervisor to corroborate his claim. But Manhattan prosecutors say the affidavit was forged and Spinosa was pregnant at the time, so during the period in question she was working limited hours or on leave.
Before prosecutors indicted her, Spinosa received medical benefits from the WTC Health Program. Your application to the Victim Compensation Fund is still pending.
Spinosa retired from NYPD in 2019. Now faces a maximum of 20 years in prison for the main charge, authorities said. The defendant did not immediately return a request for comment to the New York Post.
Former NYPD Sgt. Sally Spinosa charged with two counts of false claims for monetary awards by overstating the amount of time she spent on recovery efforts after 9/11 & one count of aggravated identity theft as part of her fraudulent benefits application.https: // t.co/UBAwhSKVlM
– Jerry Dunleavy (@JerryDunleavy) January 8, 2021
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