A recent three-year investigation by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority's inspector general has uncovered a widespread employee ID card cloning scheme at the Long Island Rail Road (LIRR), implicating three dozen workers, including some of the railroad's highest overtime earners. The scandal, detailed in a 65-page report, reveals a brazen culture of time fraud where employees used counterfeit badges to cover absences, leave work early, hit the gym, eat at home, or even work second jobs while on the clock.

The fraudulent activities were facilitated by the suspension of biometric time clocks in 2020 due to COVID-era health precautions, which had originally been implemented after a previous LIRR timecard scandal. This allowed workers to exploit the system by simply swiping employee ID cards. The scheme involved creating and distributing fake ID badges, sometimes sold for $5-$40, which were then hidden in refrigerators and lockers across various LIRR facilities, allowing co-workers to swipe each other in and out. Coordination often occurred through group chats.

The investigation traced the origins of the scheme to November 2021 when road car inspector Michael Watson purchased a "USB Magstripe Credit Card Reader Writer" from Amazon. Shortly after, fellow inspector Michael Nino was allegedly coerced by Watson to order blank swipe cards, with threats of losing overtime shifts if he didn't comply. Nino, utilizing his computer programming skills, quickly learned how to clone the cards. Together, Watson and Nino were instrumental in creating and distributing these counterfeit badges at the Richmond Hill facility, often enlisting gang foreman William Gagliardi to assist. Nino himself duplicated his own ID card and cloned cards for numerous other employees, working from his car with the equipment. These blank, credit-card sized badges were often marked with the owner's initials and ID number and stored discreetly.

The cloned cards were heavily used, with some employees leaving work early almost daily. Michael Watson was identified as a frequent user, sometimes working only four hours per shift while being swiped in up to 30 times by co-workers. Other egregious examples included gang foreman Shamal Hinds going to the gym daily during his shifts and car repairman Husson Williams occasionally not showing up for work at all, relying entirely on colleagues to record his attendance. The practice spread, with interested employees directed to see a "friend on the Hill" (Gagliardi). At the West Side facility in Manhattan, road car inspector Johansel Mendez sold cloned cards for $5, storing them in the break room refrigerator.

The scheme came to light at the Ronkonkoma facility in October 2022 following an anonymous tip about foreman John Cerulli. Surveillance video confirmed Cerulli arrived late, left early, or was absent for hours on 14 occasions over three months, with 9 instances involving fraudulent swipes by another foreman, Chris Mungal. Cerulli admitted to misconduct, implicating others, though his attorney denies he named anyone. The report highlighted that supervisors like Mungal were complicit. Brian Kearns, a road car inspector at Ronkonkoma, was specifically implicated in the creation and distribution of cards, selling them for $20-$40, and was accused of engaging in "rip and slip"—leaving early expecting a co-worker to swipe him out. Ronkonkoma employees used group text chats to coordinate fraudulent swipes.

As the probe intensified, some employees attempted to cover their tracks. Cerulli and Mungal reportedly held a meeting instructing colleagues not to talk to investigators, with Mungal asserting, "They can't do nothing to us." Cort's office issued its findings on Cerulli in July 2024 and launched a broader inquiry into duplicate LIRR employee ID cards, leading to a halt in cloned card usage. In September 2024, the MTA reinstated biometric finger-scanning time clocks.

MTA Inspector General Daniel Cort expressed outrage at the "culture of fraud," stating he was "appalled." Determining the full extent of wages fraudulently paid proved difficult due to a lack of security cameras at time clocks and the inability of systems to distinguish real from fake cards. Cerulli was compelled to repay $3,196. An analysis of LIRR pay records showed accused workers earned 1.3 to 2.7 times more in overtime than their peers, with gang foreman Craig Murray, the LIRR's top overtime earner in 2024, making $220,073 in overtime alone. While many implicated employees faced severe consequences like lengthy unpaid suspensions or termination (e.g., car inspector Richard Bovell), some avoided punishment by retiring. No criminal charges were brought by the Suffolk County District Attorney's office, citing insufficient record-keeping, lack of security cameras, and "tainted with inadmissible evidence" from the MTA IG investigation.

LIRR President Rob Free has stated the railroad is implementing reforms, including installing security cameras near time clocks and conducting regular audits. Cort believes LIRR management has taken the findings seriously but cautions that "no time keeping system is going to prevent all of this kind of fraud." While acknowledging the vast majority of MTA workers are honest, he fears some "may revert to their old ways" as "humans are ingenious." Cort hopes the investigation serves as a "turning point," instilling "real fear in those bad actors."