Ramapo's Whistle-Blower gets a Thank-You

Melissa Reimer, a fiscal supervisor for the town of Ramapo, began asking about the town's finances in 2009 -- long before the FBI showed up at town hall to confiscate records that culminated in criminal and civil fraud charges leveled last week against members of its administration.

On Thursday, the Rockland Voice wrote an editorial: Thank You Melissa Reimer – A Ramapo Hero.

Reimer met with the classic treatment most whistle-blowers receive: she was harassed.

She said she expressed concern about issues in the town's financial statements that she found troubling: like understated expenses and overstated revenue. In response, she was brought up on charges and suspended, according to the suit.

She filed a lawsuit back in 2014 against the town of Ramapo, and Christopher St. Lawrence, Nathan Oberman, Michael Klein, Linda Condon and Beth Finkelstein.

In fact, her lawsuit reads eerily like the Security and Exchange Commission's fraud charges against St. Lawrence, Klein, Oberman and N. Aaron Troodler, an assistant town attorney and also head of the Ramapo Local Development Corporation.

See the lawsuit in documentcloud.org, from Steve Lieberman of The Journal News.

Read an article about the 'ruckus' by Mareesa Nicosia from lohud.com.

Read an editorial about Reimer in the Rockland Voice.

RELATED:

• Prosecutors: Town Officials Sold $150M in Bonds Based on Lies
• Reaction to Ramapo Indictments: Calls for Review, Reform, Resignation
• SEC Charges 4 in Ramapo; Seeks Financial Penalties, Court Orders