3 Town Employees Fired For Triple-Dipping, Officials Say

EAST HAVEN, CT — Three town employees who illegally collected unemployment benefits during the coronavirus pandemic have been fired, according to town officials.

Jamie Maturo, Zackery Barker and Loribeth Rodriguez took hundreds of dollars a week in state unemployment, $600 a week in federal pandemic benefits, and their usual salaries, according to a town investigation.

Patch filed a Freedom of Information Act request and obtained a report on the town's investigation, the hearing officer's recommendations, and documents related to Maturo's work history.

The trio were placed on leave May 8 after the triple-dipping scheme was uncovered and a marshal delivered termination letters to them Friday morning, according to town officials.

All three are members of the Local 1303-119 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees. Barker is the union's president.

Larry Dorman, spokesman for Council 4 AFSCME, said the three employees have been "wronged."

"We are disappointed by the Town’s decision to fire these three employees," Dorman said in an email to Patch. "The union provided evidence throughout the investigation and pre-disciplinary hearing process that clearly demonstrates the employees did not intentionally do anything inappropriate and did not commit unemployment fraud.

"There is documentation that shows the employees never actually filed a weekly claim for unemployment benefits. Our union will seek justice for these employees who were wrongfully terminated by the Town of East Haven."

The town's investigation found that Maturo, Barker and Rodriguez "knowingly and improperly" collected unemployment while getting paid and "provided dishonest responses" during interviews, according to the 28-page report on the probe conducted by the New Haven-based law firm Ryan & Ryan.

Barker was a clerk for the past two years. Maturo has been employed by the town for 15 years and has been reassigned a number of times. Rodriquez, who is tax professional, according to her Facebook account, was an administrative assistant in the engineering department for the past three years.

The investigation and hearings

East Haven Employees Invest... by Ellyn Santiago on Scribd

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On March 17, with Town Hall closed, all East Haven employees got an email that said they may be eligible to file for unemployment, according to the report. But the following day, on March 18, employees were told via email that instead, the town had decided to keep all employees on their full regular pay through April 17. As the pandemic continued, the date was pushed to May 1.

Then, in early April, Barker sent a group text to union members telling them to file for unemployment. But, just as with all other town employees, Barker got the email saying the town would pay staff through April 17, the investigation found, but he nonetheless filed for unemployment. In the group text, Barker encouraged others to do the same, according to the investigation report.

"Mr. Barker made a false statement on his application for unemployment benefits," the report reads. "He was also, due to his April 9 text message, the leader of a conspiracy followed by two others which remained hidden at his request."

Investigators said that Barker did not "exhibit any remorse for his actions, and he never apologized."

In the report, Rodriguez was quoted as saying, "I thought Unemployment would come get me before the Town."

She filed for unemployment and received close to $4,000. She told investigators she canceled her claim May 4, but records show she did that May 8, the day she was placed on administrative leave.

"Ms. Rodriguez's cavalier attitude toward her improper collection of a Town paycheck and unemployment benefits was displayed on May 8; the day she was placed on Administrative Leave with pay," the report reads. "After she was notified by ... [Human Resources Director Michelle] Benivegna that she was being placed on leave, Ms. Rodriguez said: 'I guess I'll stay home and get paid.'"

Investigators found that she "participated in a conspiracy with Mr. Barker."

"Per his April 9 text message, she filed for unemployment benefits even though she knew she was being paid by the Town," the report reads. "In addition, she kept silent regarding her receipt of unemployment monies while being paid by the Town per Mr. Barker's April 9 text message."

Investigators said Rodriguez "... did not seize the opportunity to express remorse or apologize for her wrongdoing."

Maturo, like Barker and Rodriguez, filed for unemployment while being paid by the town, the report found. Investigators said that during an interview, she gave a number of statements that were "not credible." She told investigators that she completed and filed the unemployment application but "did not intend to file a claim for benefits."

"For the same reasons as discussed with regard to Ms. Rodriguez's claim, Ms. Maturo's assertion in this regard is not believable," the report reads. "Specifically, the Department of Labor Unemployment website makes clear that, by submitting the form, the applicant is making a claim for benefits."

And she received the payments, according to the report. She told investigators she thought the debit card she received, which reads Connecticut Department of Labor, was a federal stimulus card and used it. When she had the opportunity to show remorse, Maturo said, "I apologize for not being smart," according to the report.

All three received at minimum in excess of $3,000 for the four weeks they were getting state and federal benefits in addition to their regular pay, the report found.

Three hearings were held with the employees and their union representative. A town official told Patch none brought a lawyer.

Town Attorney Michael Luzzi told Patch last week that Mayor Joe Carfora would not be presiding over the hearings.

"Due to the seriousness of the issues presented in this investigation, as well as the possible claims of partisanship regarding a former Mayor," the hearing officer is lawyer Jeffrey Donofrio, who also serves as North Haven’s Town Attorney.

Donofrio’s recommendation was to fire the employees.

Maturo termination by Ellyn Santiago on Scribd

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Rodriquez termination by Ellyn Santiago on Scribd

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Barker termination by Ellyn Santiago on Scribd

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Investigation interference

Jamie Maturo’s father is former longtime East Haven Mayor Joe Maturo. Maturo interfered in the triple-dipping investigation, according to the report.

On May 26, while the probe was underway, Maturo approached Benivegna, the town's human resources director, and Carfora while they were having lunch at a public place, investigators wrote. Maturo "talked to them in an apparent attempt to influence this investigation," according to the report.

"Mr. Maturo asked Mayor Carfora to help out his daughter, Jamie Maturo, and to 'let her keep her job,'" the report says. "Mr. Maturo also shared intimate details of Ms. Maturo's personal life with Mr. Carfora in an apparent attempt to explain why she should be able to keep her job with the Town.

"Mr. Maturo's actions attempting to interfere with this investigation are particularly disturbing given the fact that it involves the improper use of State and Federal monies; specifically, unemployment benefits, which are paid by the Town."

As of March 2020, Jamie Maturo was earning an annual salary of nearly $52,000.

The issue of Maturo’s continued employment with the town led to a Freedom of Information Act request for documents related to her 15-year tenure with the town. Those documents revealed that she was moved from one job to another for failing to perform her duties.

In 2006, then-police Chief Leonard L. Gallo wrote a letter to the town’s Director of Administration Frank Gentilesco Jr. noting that, "she has had six weeks of training and has found with the task that she is assigned to is too difficult to master." The next day, it was agreed that she would go back to an administrative position in the Housing Authority per the provisions of a collective bargaining agreement.

There were also repeated complaints about her work schedule.

Her supervisor in the housing department sent her a letter copied to her father, who was mayor at the time, and Gentilesco noting that she leaves the office "without obtaining permission" and that practice needed to stop, or she would face disciplinary action or possible suspension.

In 2012, she was again reassigned from the Housing Authority to work as an assistant to the public services director. A few years later, in May 2017, Gentilesco sent a memo to the mayor’s office asking how to "discreetly get our hands on how many unpaid days Jamie has had since November 1, 2016."

The next month, in June 2017, town engineer and head of public services Kevin White, her boss, said in a memo "... over the past several years, her normal workday averaged less than four hours per day. Her job description calls for seven hours per day. I warned her that if this situation continues she would be disciplined according to the contract. She said she would try to comply."

Maturo’s special accommodations were examined when Carfora came into office. They met, and she signed an agreement that she would come to work on time. On Dec. 10, 2019, she agreed to comply with the duties required in her job description and would work a regular schedule, from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.

In a March email, Maturo said that she was "grateful."

"I want to do what works for everyone and what would be best for public works and everyone here. I know it will all go smoothly from here on out. I will do my best. I want to say thank you for the opportunity to show that I can do it."

Two months later, the next correspondence was a letter stating she was being placed on leave pending an investigation.