LIRR Worker from New Hyde Park Spared Jail Time for Disability Scam

A New Hyde Park woman allegedly involved in the Long Island Rail Road disability fraud conspiracy has been spared jail time after testified about her role in the scam in Federal court.

Regina Walsh, 65, the former director of employee services, had previously testified in Manhattan Federal Court that she and retired conductor James Maher, 60, exaggerated their disabilities and identified two of the three persons on trial who are charged with being key perpetrators of the scam.

Walsh, who retired from the LIRR in 2006 after 30 years, pled guilty to charges in January and faced between 6 to 12 months in prison. Instead, she was one of two persons who offered testimony for prosecutors in two separate trials that ended up convicting five ex-railroad workers.

The other witness, Richard Ehrlinger, 66, of Bay Shore, a former train conductor, received 2 years probation and 6 months of house arrest for allegedly lying about a seasonal side job he held while at the same time collecting disability benefits.

On Nov. 15 Walsh offered an apology to the court for the scam in which she personally bilked $56,364 in disability benefits from taxpayers. The scam is estimated to have cost $1 billion total to taxpayers. While she will have to return the amount she fraudulently obtained personally, Walsh will continue to receive 85 percent of her pension from the LIRR and 100 percent of a separate retirement board pension for which she became eligible in 2007.

In her testimony, Walsh said that she was able to perpetrate the fraud using the claims filing system in order to exaggerate claims about injuries incurred on the job and for which approval was easy to obtain. She stated that she was testifying in order to set things right.

According to a Newsday report:

Walsh's lawyer said that instead of taking early retirement at 50 and using the disability to supplement an LIRR pension until she reached full retirement age at 60, Walsh waited until she was 58, and collected a smaller amount than most other fraudsters.

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