Before he became the city overtime king and clocked 100-hour workweeks, David Russell was one of 28 municipal workers charged 16 years earlier in a massive “double-dipping” grand-larceny scam for allegedly collecting unemployment benefits while on the payroll, The Post has learned.
Russell — a Department of Transportation supervisor highway repairer who The Post reported racked up $177,629 in overtime last year on top of his regular earnings of $82,076 — was arrested in a 1999 probe headed by the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office and the city’s Department of Investigation dubbed “Operation Double Dipping.”
Russell was charged with fourth-degree grand larceny for allegedly collecting 26 days of unemployment benefits worth $1,426 in 1995 and 1996 on days he was actually recorded as working. At that time, he worked only seasonally for the DOT as an assistant highway repairer, earning a mere $15 an hour.
He faced up to four years in jail but pleaded guilty to lesser disorderly-conduct charges and reimbursed the state, sources said.
In 1999, Russell was already a full-timer, so the DOT suspended him for 30 days without pay and put him on probation for one year.
When asked why Russell was allowed to rack up so much OT, a department spokesman said, “DOT has been reviewing the overtime earnings at the agency for four months, and once this review is complete, we will take appropriate action as necessary.”