West Islip Man Charged in LIRR Disability Scam

A West Islip man is among ten Long Island Railroad retirees charged in Manhattan Federal Court Tuesday in an alleged decade-long scheme to collect fraudulent disability pensions, Newsday reports.

Thomas Delalla, 53, is accused of partaking in "strenuous and athletic actions" while collecting combined disability and pension payments of more than $10,000 a month, prosecutor Dayna Perry said Tuesday. Delalla is one of more than a dozen employees alleged to have racked up thousands of overtime hours to boost their LIRR pensions before claiming a phony disability.

, with prosecutors alleging they approved more than 90 percent of the LIRR workers they saw for disabilities claiming to suffer "crippling and debilitating pain." Those patients claiming disabilities had later been seen engaging in activites like shoveling snow and working out, prosecutors said.

So far, twenty one people have been charged in the alleged scheme, though prosecutors estimate that as many as 1,500 former LIRR employees are involved in scamming the federal Railroad Retirement Board out of upwards of $1 billion through fake disability claims.

Read the full report here.

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