Authorities on Wednesday busted 16 taxi dispatchers from Kennedy and LaGuardia airports who raked in up to $1,000 a day in $10 bribes from hacks who paid to avoid three-hour waits and jump the line of cabs picking up fares, sources said.
The accused scammers were slapped with bribery charges and were expected to be arraigned later Wednesday in Queens Criminal Court, said Queens DA Richard A. Brown, whose office teamed up with the Port Authority to crack the case.
“The defendants are alleged to have accepted bribes in the form of cash payments to rig the airport taxi dispatching system at JFK Airport,” Brown said. “The bribery scam allegedly allowed taxi drivers to basically ‘cut the line’ and get ahead of honest drivers waiting their turn for passengers.”
The unsuspecting dispatchers were arrested after they were told to report to JFK for what they thought was a training session.
“They were summoned for training, and when they turned down a corridor they were placed under arrest,” a source said of the surprised workers, who are employed by a Port Authority contractor called Gateway Group One Frontline Services.
PA Inspector General Robert Van Etten said the 16 gamed a system that was ironically created to ensure fairness.
“These defendants sold out their position of public trust and chose to line their pockets and enrich themselves. The defendants took unfair advantage of a dispatching process that was created to provide a level playing field for all cab drivers,” Van Etten said.
The crooked dispatchers took $10 bribes from hacks who did not want to wait in “taxi hold lots” at the two airports so that they could pick up more passengers and make more money, authorities said.
The dispatchers could make up to $1,000 a day in the scam, the source added.
“They are supposed to send the taxi drivers to a taxi hold lot where they wait two to three hours and they’re dispatched on demand,” the source added.
Instead, they were allowed to go straight to the airline terminal pick-up areas, Brown said.
The dispatchers have total control over the cabs’ movements at the airports, summoning them from the central holding area to pick-up areas at the various terminals as flights arrive.
Also, the crooked hacks – scores of whom participated in the shady deal – would be given “shorty tickets” meant for drivers taking fares to nearby Brooklyn, Queens and Nassau – even when they were actually driving into Manhattan.
The “shorty tickets” would allow them to cut the line once again once they returned.
The PA’s Inspector General’s Office got tipped off about the scam in December 2012 by honest cabbies angry over the preferential treatment.
The honest hacks participated in the investigation, which also included electronic surveillance of the accused crooks, by working undercover, Brown said.
The scam prompted the PA to work with Gateway to switch to a new computer dispatch system already in use at Newark Liberty airport, the DA said.
The 16 were formally charged with second-degree commercial bribe receiving, official misconduct and receiving unlawful gratuities – all misdemeanors punishable by up to one year in jail.
Those arrested Wednesday include Brooklyn residents Franklin Andrews, 36, of Chauncy Street; Jessica Augilla, 24, of Humboldt Street;
Ana Hernandez, 33, of Flushing Avenue; Jean Legerme, 30, of Flatlands Avenue; Rasheeda Lewis-Gordon, 37, of Wynona Stree; Andrew Mayers, 60, of East 35th Street; Steffany Persaud, 23, of East 34th Street and Manuel Roman, 31, of Georgia Avenue.
Also, Queens residents Duwayne Bayliss, 34, of 161st Street; Kevin Dean, 52, of 166th Street; Lennox Ifill, 62, of 179th Place; Jahreme Joefield, 33, of 172nd Street; Jaccain Montauban, 30, of 87th Drive; Wag Yum Ng, 56, of 201st Street and Natasha Stoute, 30, of Chandler Street. Keisa Munroe, 36, of Bouck Avenue in the Bronx was also charged.