City Employee Charged With Section 8 Fraud

A city employee has been charged with stealing $12,000 from a housing subsidy program.

The employee, Rafael Rosario, works for the Department of Sanitation, and lived in a subsidized apartment in the Bronx between 2006 and 2007, according to a release from the Department of Investigation.

He executed the scam by lying to housing authorities during that period, the report said. He would tell the city's Housing Development Corporation that he worked for FedEx and that he was earning thousands of dollars less than he was actually earning at the time, according to the release. Subsequently, it said, he would be paid higher subsidy benefits.

Mr. Rosario is the second city employee this summer to be charged with defrauding the corporation's Section 8 subsidy program. In June, a teacher was charged with misrepresenting her income to steal $27,000, according to the Department of Investigation.

Mr. Rosario could face up to 10 years in federal prison if he is convicted, the release said.