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Two Charged With Stealing $280,000 In Alleged Yonkers Bus Scam

YONKERS, N.Y. -- Two suspects were charged with stealing nearly $280,000 from the City of Yonkers for bus services that never were provided for the Nepperhan Community Center, according to Westchester County District Attorney Janet DiFiore. 

William Ahern was charged with stealing nearly $280,000 from the City of Yonkers.

William Ahern was charged with stealing nearly $280,000 from the City of Yonkers.

Photo Credit: Westchester County District Attorney
Anna Sollozzo was charged with stealing nearly $280,000 from the City of Yonkers.

Anna Sollozzo was charged with stealing nearly $280,000 from the City of Yonkers.

Photo Credit: Westchester County District Attorney

William Ahern, 59, of Armonk, and Anna Sollozzo, 52, of Yonkers, submitted false invoices for bus services that never were provided to the Board of Education’s Transportation Supervisor, who allegedly knowingly approved them, between Sept. 24, 2012 and April 11, 2014, the district attorney said. 

Ahern, who owns A Plus Transportation, and Sollozzo allegedly created a phantom bus route by invoicing the Board of Education for bus pickups at the Nepperhan Community Center, when in fact no buses ever were dispatched.

During this same time period, Ahern allegedly deposited money into Sollozzo’s personal bank account totaling $107,250, the district attorney said. 

“The allegations outlined in the complaint are the essence of fraud, corruption and mismanagement," DiFiore said in a statement. These defendants, over an eighteen-month period, conspired to defraud the City of Yonkers Board of Education and by extension, all its students by providing non-existent services. How many music or art classes could have been maintained with that misappropriated money?”

Ahern was charged with one count of second-degree grand larceny and one count of second-degree rewarding official misconduct.

Sollozzo was charged with one count of second-degree grand larceny, one count of third-degree criminal tax fraud, one count of second-degree receiving reward for official misconduct, three counts of fourth-degree criminal tax fraud and three counts of first-degree offering a false instrument for filing, the district attorney said. 

If convicted, each faces a maximum of 15 years in prison. 

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