Former NYPD cop from Yorktown stole $300G in disability fraud, feds say
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.
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