New York jail guard pleads guilty to raking sick days while bowling

On Tuesday, corrupt corrections officer Rikers pleaded guilty to robbing the city, receiving more than a year’s sick pay while he was off bowling, doing chores and traveling overseas.

Eduardo Trinidad was the latest of three guards to be caught on one count of federal program fraud, according to Brooklyn federal prosecutors.

The trio have since been fired and now face up to 10 years behind bars.

Trinidad allegedly made $140,000 by feigning injury from June 2021 to November 2022, according to prosecutors.

While he was on vacation, Trinidad showed up to a doctor’s appointment at the city’s Department of Corrections with fake bandages, a cane and a boot, prosecutors accused.

But otherwise, investigators have found, Trinidad would have been doing housework, going bowling and traveling to the Dominican Republic and Florida with his fiancée, Monica Coaxum, a corrections officer who pleaded guilty to the same charge in February.

A third officer, Stephen Kange, also siphoned off $139,000 in erroneous sick pay while on leave from March 2021 to November 2022, prosecutors said.

In statements, the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York and the head of the city’s Department of Investigations praised the guilty plea.

“Their behavior — including traveling around the country, partying, bowling and home renovations, taking stolen sick days — is an insult to correctional officers who are doing their job, who come to work and risk their personal safety on a daily basis. ,” said DOI Commissioner Jocelyn Strauber.

U.S. Attorney Breon Peace added, “Sick leave abuse is a scourge for the New York City Department of Corrections, putting fellow officers and inmates at risk during the ongoing prison staffing crisis.”