A city Department of Transportation official billed taxpayers for his commuting tolls for three years — helped in part when a colleague was sidelined for blowing the whistle, an investigative report found.
Deputy Commissioner Galileo Orlando, who oversees the DOT’s fleet of vehicles, used his city-issued E-ZPass to rack up $6,510 in personal bridge and tunnel tolls starting in 2011, according to the Department of Investigation.
A DOT staffer who reviewed monthly bills notified a supervisor just months after Orlando stopped reimbursing the city for his personal trips between Manhattan and New Jersey.
But instead of going after Orlando, the supervisor relieved the would-be whistleblower of her oversight duties, the probe shows.
The move allowed Orlando to keep the scam running through February 2014, when another official filed a complaint with the DOI.
City investigators said Orlando, who earns $187,000, told them he had regularly reimbursed the city for his tolls from 2003 to roughly 2010 — when he suddenly stopped.
Asked why he stopped, Orlando simply said that “he was ‘stupid’ and ‘embarrassed,’ ” the report says.
The DOT suspended Orlando for 60 days.
An e-mail and phone message for Orlando weren’t returned.