MBTA employees face federal charges of falsifying track inspection reports
The Justice Department said the MBTA staff filed reports claiming they had inspected tracks on the transit network's Red Line, when in reality, they had skipped the inspection and were inside a T maintenance facility at the time.
Several of the employees were also charged with working on private vehicles at the facility during work hours.
The employees all worked at the MBTA's Cabot Yard facility in South Boston, where the transit agency placed nearly a dozen employees on administrative leave last fall during an investigation into allegations they worked on non-MBTA vehicles during work hours.
Brain Pfaffinger, 47, of Marshfield; Ronald Gamble, 62, of Dorchester; Jensen Vatel, 42, of Brockton; Nathalie Mendes, 53, of New Bedford; and Andy Vicente, 36, of Bridgewater face charges of aiding and abetting the falsification of records and aiding and abetting false statements.
They were taken into federal custody Thursday morning and are expected to appear in U.S. District Court in Boston later in the day, according to the office of U.S. Attorney Leah Foley.
Gamble, Vatel, Mendes and Vicente — former MBTA track inspectors — are accused of falsifying track inspection reports on the Red Line between Sept. 3 and Oct. 15 of last year.
During times they claimed to have inspected railroad tracks, the employees were at the Cabot Yard facility, where they had access to a break and coffee room for inspectors, prosecutors said.
Gamble, Vatel and Vicente are also accused of working on private vehicles during work time.
Pfaffinger, their former supervisor, 'not only knew that his subordinates worked on private vehicles during work hours, but had his subordinates work on his own vehicle,' prosecutors said.
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