Rikers Island Correctional Officer Who Bowled, Traveled While ‘Sick’ Pleads Guilty to Federal Charges

A Rikers Island Correctional Officer who was busy posting photos of him installing drywall and a bowling alley when he declared himself ill has pleaded guilty to federal fraud charges.

The troubled prison complex was facing a staffing crisis when Eduardo Trinidad, 42, said he was too injured to work.

For more than a year, he has received more than $140,000 in salary, saying he cannot sit, run or lift anything since taking unlimited sick leave in June 2021.

But photos and videos showed he was fit enough to travel, do household chores and play a few frames. He showed up for inspection at Rikers Island with his arm in a sling or his leg in boots to keep the deception going.

Trinidad, which pleaded guilty in Brooklyn federal court on Tuesday, is the latest of three correctional officers, one of whom is his fiancée, to reach a plea deal after they were arrested in November as part of a lengthy leave abuse investigation. by illness. .

He could face 10 to 16 months behind bars under federal sentencing rules and must pay more than $119,000 in restitution, although the maximum sentence he and his colleagues face is 10 years in prison.

At his court hearing on Tuesday, Trinidad said he suffered legitimate hand and leg injuries but lied about the pace of his recovery.

“I am very sorry,” he said, bursting into tears, “and I deeply regret my action. They don’t know who I am.”

The investigation began in late 2021, during the final months of de Blasio’s administration, as Rikers struggled with a huge number of officers who were sick or absent from work in the midst of a pandemic. For example, between September 13 and November 2, 2021, 155 officers were convicted of unauthorized absence and suspended from work.

The problem persisted into 2022. The Daily News had previously reported that hundreds of officers were abusing the sick leave policy.

The sick officers also played cat and mouse with investigators to make sure they were at home, The News reported.

Trinidad’s fiancée, Monica Coaxum, was also missing for over a year, claiming a series of injuries, “injuries” and illness, prosecutors said. In fact, the couple wandered around Florida, the Dominican Republic and West Virginia.

Coaxum posted on social media: “Yes, the houses are still paying, unlimited sick child. Be like me! Living my best life,” prosecutors said.

According to a criminal lawsuit filed in Brooklyn Federal Court, the third accused corrections officer, Stephen Kange, produced and sold his own comic book while off-duty of the Department of Corrections, providing false medical reports for more than a year and a half.

Trinidad is to be sentenced on 11 July.