A toll booth operator for the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel has been charged with stealing $24,270 in tolls and replacing them with counterfeit bills.
According to the criminal complaint, 22-year-old Jonathan Germain took the money over the course of ten different shifts in a booth on the Brooklyn side from May 23rd to June 13th of this year. The MTA's Bridge and Tunnels supervisor assigned to collect Germain's money discovered that his take included the fake money, and surveillance video obtained during an investigation showed him replacing $3,000 in cash from his deposit bag with counterfeit bills.
Germain, an East Flatbush resident, faces 5-15 years in prison if he's convicted.
“We carefully monitor our revenue stream through every step of the collection process and stress to all officers during training that anyone caught stealing will be arrested and fully prosecuted,” MTA Bridges and Tunnels chief of internal security Donald Look said in a statement.
