Between 2014 and 2018, three top officials in charge of overseeing elevators in New York City Housing Authority buildings repeatedly filed false reports saying that elevators had been inspected, according to indictments unsealed on Wednesday.
Lynne Patton, a top regional administrator with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, tweeted Thursday night that the men should be jailed.
These 3 top @NYCHA managers knowingly and deliberately falsified elevator inspection records from 2014 - 2018, including several filed under my watch.
— Lynne Patton (HUD) (@LynnePattonHUD) November 29, 2018
I take that personally.
I want them - or anyone from whom prosecutors can prove they received this directive - jailed. https://t.co/mb87JAo1fj
Alan Guadagno, Derrick Graham and Virgel Fincher, three NYCHA managers who oversaw elevator maintenance, now face dozens of felony counts for lying. The trio allegedly continued filing false reports even after an 84-year-old man died in a faulty elevator in the Mill Brook Houses in the Bronx on Christmas Eve in 2015.
"Very rarely do people do things unless their bosses approve," Daily News reporter Greg Smith, who has covered the indictments, told WNYC. "My question is, did someone tell them to do this, or did someone simply look the other way?"
While Gadagno and Fincher both recently retired, Graham is still currently a NYCHA employee. All three were making six-figure salaries during the time of their alleged crimes.
"I'm mostly interested in what their bosses knew about this," added Smith. "That's the number one thing about this—they're going to be put under pressure to tell all.
Smith spoke with WNYC's Richard Hake.