By Nathan Brown
Adirondack Daily Enterprise
The head of the state Department of Correctional Services food processing center took casual Fridays and long-distance commuting a little too far, and his bosses helped him do it, according to a report from the state comptroller and inspector general.
Howard Dean (not the former governor of Vermont) submitted false time sheets and was paid $229,765 over the course of 17 years for Fridays that he never worked, according to a report Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli released Friday. Dean admitted to this when interviewed by auditors, according to DiNapoli’s report. Due to being paid for days he didn’t work, Dean also accumulated $18,065 in unwarranted vacation time, according to the report.
Dean allegedly defrauded DOCS of more than $500,000 between 1992 and August 2008. The second-largest chunk was $205,114 for improper travel reimbursements. Dean worked full-time at the center in Rome, on the grounds of Oneida Correctional Facility, but senior management designated Auburn and later Albany as the official location of his job, allowing Dean to collect travel reimbursements, hotel and per-diem meal expenses he wasn’t entitled to, according to the audit. Dean lives in Locke, 88 miles from Rome.
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