D.A. Bragg Announces Indictments Of OCME Employees For $222K Time Theft

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, Jr., today announced the indictments of three current and former employees of the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner for allegedly stealing more than $222,000 in wages from the City of New York by falsifying timesheets for hours they did not work between March 2020 and June 2024. The defendants are charged in separate indictments with various counts of Grand Larceny in the Second Degree, Offering a False Instrument for Filing in the First Degree, Falsifying Business Records in the First Degree, and Defrauding the Government.[1]

"New York City employees must accurately document their time - they owe it to their coworkers, and to their fellow taxpayers," said District Attorney Bragg. "We will continue to work with the Department of Investigation to ensure honest timekeeping and protect the City's coffers."

DOI Commissioner Nadia I. Shihata said, "These current and former employees of OCME allegedly defrauded the City of more than $220,000 by exploiting the City's timekeeping system, submitting overtime requests when, in fact, they were not physically on site. This brazen misconduct exposed vulnerabilities and resulted in DOI recommendations to OCME to improve timekeeping controls and strengthen supervision. I thank the Manhattan District Attorney's Office for its continued partnership to protect City tax dollars and the City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, OCME's parent agency, for reporting this scheme to DOI, and OCME for its full cooperation with the investigation."

As alleged in court documents and statements made on the record in court, HIPOLITO DIAZ, 64, ROSA PUJOLS-BAEZ, 50, and MARITZA HERNANDEZ, 62, were Institutional Aides responsible for the sanitation of OCME facilities. Between March 2020 and June 2024, they allegedly stole a combined $222,000 in wages by submitting CityTime webclock entries for overtime, when they were not physically on the facilities.

Specifically, the indictments allege:

• DIAZ stole $60,079.94 in wages, including approximately $59,805.39 in overtime pay.
• PUJOLS-BAEZ stole $72,647.21 in wages, including approximately $70,815.79 in overtime pay.
• HERNANDEZ stole approximately $90,586.26 in wages, including approximately $89,550.78 in overtime pay.

OCME referred the investigation to the New York City Department of Investigation, which partnered with the Manhattan D.A.'s Office's Major Economic Crimes Bureau ("MECB").

Assistant D.A.s Imran Ahmed (Senior Investigative Counsel) and John Dunn are handling the prosecution of the case under the supervision of Assistant D.A. Christine Payne (Deputy Chief of MECB), Michael Ohm (Chief of MECB), and Judy Salwen (Deputy Chief of the Investigation Division) and Executive Assistant D.A. Jodie Kane (Chief of the Investigation Division). Investigator Noah Dent, Forensic Accountant Investigator Kenneth Zorn, Investigative Analyst Zana Frluckaj, and Paralegal Allan Rikshpun assisted with the investigation.

From the Department of Investigation, the case was investigated by Confidential Investigator Denis Kakembo with DOI's Office of the Inspector General for DOHMH, with assistance from Data Analyst Brian Mallory, under the supervision of Director of Data Analytics Shyam Prasad, Assistant Inspector General Alina Zhelizna, Deputy Inspectors General Shakina Griffith and Mary Kozlow, Inspector General Thomas Kapp, Acting Deputy Commissioner/Chief of Investigations Audrey Feldman and Deputy Commissioner of Strategic Initiatives Christopher Ryan.

D.A. Bragg thanked OCME for its assistance during the investigation.

Defendant Information

HIPOLITO DIAZ

New York, NY

Charges:

• Grand Larceny in the Second Degree, a class C felony, one count
• Offering a False Instrument for Filing in the First Degree, a class E felony, three counts
• Falsifying Business Records in the First Degree, a class E felony, three counts
• Defrauding the Government, a class E felony, one count

ROSA PUJOLS-BAEZ

New York, NY

Charges:

• Grand Larceny in the Second Degree, a class C felony, one count
• Offering a False Instrument for Filing in the First Degree, a class E felony, four counts
• Falsifying Business Records in the First Degree, a class E felony, four counts
• Defrauding the Government, a class E felony, one count

MARITZA HERNANDEZ

Bronx, NY

Charges:

• Grand Larceny in the Second Degree, a class C felony, one count
• Offering a False Instrument for Filing in the First Degree, a class E felony, four counts
• Falsifying Business Records in the First Degree, a class E felony, four counts
• Defrauding the Government, a class E felony, one count

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[1] The charges contained in the indictments are merely allegations and the defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty. All factual recitations are derived from documents filed in court and statements made on the record in court.