REDWOOD CITY — A former deputy director and one-time Caltrain contractor are going through trial on prices that they diverted taxpayer {dollars} to are building secret mini-apartments in two train stations on the peninsula which they reportedly used as crash pads earlier than being found.
Joseph Vincent Navarro, 67, and Seth Andrew Worden, 62, appeared in a San Mateo County courtroom Monday, the place they waived preliminary hearings on prices of misusing public funds.
Navarro and Worden have been formally held accountable to the fees by Decide Shawn Dabell. They have been ordered to return to courtroom on September 10 for a second cost.
At a preliminary listening to or assessment, the decide decides whether or not there’s sufficient proof within the prison case to go to trial. One cause defendants might waive this listening to is that if they anticipate or acknowledge {that a} decide will rule towards them and need to save the time and expense of going to trial.
Andrew Vandeveld, an lawyer representing Navarro, informed this information group that waiving the listening to “is a strategic choice as we transfer towards trial.”
“We’ll defend the case aggressively,” Vandeveld mentioned. “We consider that Mr. Navarro did nothing flawed, that the prosecution exaggerated the case, and we consider that (Navarro) acted inside the scope of his duties.”
Worden’s lawyer didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark Monday.
Navarro, who now lives in Pennsylvania, is out of custody on a $25,000 bond, and Worden, who lives in San Diego County, is free on bond. If convicted, every defendant faces a most sentence of 4 years in jail.
The San Mateo County District Lawyer’s Workplace alleges that between 2019 and 2020, Navarro, a former Caltrain deputy director, conspired with Warden and accredited $42,000 in development prices to rework workplace area in a small condo on the Burlingame practice station , a historic landmark in-built 1894. Worden additionally allegedly used $8,000 in taxpayer funds to construct comparable residing quarters for himself on the Millbrae practice station.
Prosecutors say Navarro and Worden ensured that no bill associated to the unlawful development exceeded $3,000, a price threshold that may have required further authorization from Caltrain and TransAmerica Providers Inc., the agency that employed Worden.
Authorities mentioned Worden first grew to become suspicious in 2020 after officers found the reworked area, however the transit company was unaware of Navarro’s Burlingame condo till receiving an nameless tip in 2022.
Navarro was fired after being confronted in regards to the info and reportedly admitted that he “often used the station as his residence,” prosecutors mentioned, though they contended that he used the small condo as his major residence. Each dwellings have lengthy since been cleared and restored to work.
This can be a creating story. Examine again for updates.
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