Subway Worker Charged With Faking Signal Reports

A Metropolitan Transit Authority employee is being charged with falsifying inspection reports on the No. 7 subway line, according to an indictment unsealed Thursday by Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance, Jr.

Ilya Klyauzov, who worked at the Times Square subway station, was slapped with felony charges for tampering with public records and official misconduct. He was arraigned Thursday and pleaded not guilty before being released on his own recognizance.

If convicted, he faces two to seven years in prison.

The indictment comes two months after authorities with the MTA and the attorney general's office raided a subway crew room at the Times Square station and found hundreds of photo-copied bar codes from subway signals.

The MTA has known for years that, at times, up to 90 percent of signal inspections have been faked, according to the Office of the Inspector General for the authority.

A signal inspector can scan copies of the bar codes with a hand-held device to falsely report that inspections have been done throughout the system without ever going out into the field.

The Manhattan District Attorney's office said the investigation is ongoing, which means more indictments could be coming in the case.