Jonathan Bandler
A retired New York City police
officer from Yorktown was arrested Wednesday on federal charges that he bilked
Social Security out of more than $300,000 in disability benefits while working
over the past decade as director of security for Tourneau, the luxury
watchmaker.
James Carson, 50, was not
supposed to be working while collecting disability after claiming a
debilitating back injury that forced him to retire in 1991. But investigators
found he was employed at Tourneau since at least 2004. He even won a
prestigious award from the National Retail Federation four years ago for his
work investigating credit card schemes targeting the company.
Carson was taken into custody
at his home and appeared Wednesday afternoon in federal court in Manhattan. He
was released on $600,000 bond secured by his home and required to surrender any
guns he owned to Westchester County police.
"Not only did James Carson
allegedly tell a series of lies to pocket disability benefits to which he was
not entitled, but he then took sophisticated steps to conceal his fraudulently
obtained income from the Social Security Administration," U.S. Attorney
Preet Bharara said in a statement.
Since 1990, Carson collected
more than $650,000 in Social Security benefits — including at least $306,431
while working as Tourneau's director of security, officials charge.
Tourneau spokespeople did not
return phone messages.
In April, Carson was
interviewed at the Social Security Administration regarding his continued
receipt of benefits. He showed up limping with a cane and claimed that he had
not worked since 1995 because of his back pain, authorities say. On various
forms he indicated that he had no other income since his disability began;
relies on his wife to drive him places because he can't drive due to the pain;
and uses a cane at all times.
Asked about places he goes on a
regular basis, Carson replied, "I don't really go anywhere on a regular
basis."
But a month earlier, Special
Agent Peter Dowd, an investigator with the Social Security Administration's
Office of the Inspector General, said he had observed Carson drive away from
the parking garage at Tourneau's Long Island City office. Later in the spring,
Dowd said he regularly tracked Carson driving between his home and the office,
and on one occasion saw him enter the garage from a stairway, "walking
without apparent difficulty and without a cane," get into his car and
drive away.
In 2010, the National Retail
Federation honored Carson and a Tourneau colleague with its Loss Prevention
Case of the Year award. The two were credited with ending a scheme in which two
company managers had made nearly $700,000 in fradulent credit card purchases.
In publicizing the award, the federation identified Carson as the company's Director
of Loss Prevention.
Authorities said Carson tried
to hide his income from the company by having Tourneau pay his salary to a
corporation that was associated with a relative at his home. The corporation
then gave the money to the relative as wages, which the relative listed as
income on joint tax returns with Carson. According to the complaint, Tourneau
paid the corporation between $27,000 and $138,000 per year between 2004 to
2012.
According to New York state
records, JACC Security Corp. was incorporated in July 2004 at Carson's home
address. The chief executive officer was listed as Carmen Carson, his wife.
The U.S. Attorney's Office
declined to comment when asked whether Carmen Carson was under investigation.
Dowd also determined that James
Carson indicated on insurance policies taken out over the past year that he was
employed and that no business operated from his home.
Edward Ryan, special agent in
charge of the Office of the Inspector General, said the Social Security
Disability Insurance Trust Fund was meant to provide "a safety net for the
truly disabled, not (line) the pockets of scammers and thieves." He said
it was "particularly troubling" that an ex-law enforcement officer
would commit such a crime, especially when he was "already receiving (a)
generous taxpayer-financed pension."
Carson was charged with theft
of government property, making false statements and failing to report income
and faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted.
His lawyer, Kevin Kearon,
declined to comment on the allegations against Carson.
"We're reviewing the
charges and we intend to defend the charges in court," Kearon said.