REDWOOD CITY, Calif. — A former Caltrain official, as well as a former contractor for the commuter agency, are facing felony charges after allegedly spending public funds to secretly build themselves small apartments inside two of the agency’s train stations, the San Jose Mercury News reports.
Joseph Vincent Navarro, 66, formerly of the Bay Area and now of Newtown, Pa., and Seth Andrew Worden, 61, of Oceanside, Calif., have been charged with misusing public funds. Worden was arraigned Wednesday, the newspaper reports, while Navarro is scheduled to be arrainged Friday.
The San Mateo County District Attorneys Office says Navarro, formerly a deputy director for Caltrain, conspired with Worden and approved $42,000 in building expenses to remodal office space inside the Burlingame station in 2019 and 2020. The facility — inside a building that opened in 1894, became a state historical landmark in 1971, and was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1978 — reportedly featured a kitchen, shower, plumbing and security cameras.
Navarro and Wordern allegedly made sure no invoice surpassed $3,000, which would have provided a further level of authorization from Caltrain and Worden’s employer, TransAmerica Services Inc. Worden allegedly used $8,000 in taxpayer funds to build a similar living space inside the Millbrae station.
Worden was caught in 2020 after employees discovered the conversion, authorities said, but Navarro’s space went undetected until Caltrain received an anonymous tip in 2022. He was fired after being confronted about the tip.
“The misuse of public funds for private use is a violation of the law, Caltrain policy and the public’s trust,” Caltrain Executive Director Michelle Bouchard told the Mercury News in a statement. “Caltrain investigates every claim of such misconduct, and in cases where there is evidence of unlawful conduct by an employee or a contractor, we immediately act to rectify the situation and hold the individuals who are responsible accountable.”
The men face up to four years in prison if convicted.
The BIG QUESTION: Who gets to love…errr…live in them now? lol
I am still trying to figure out what the motive was to build these pads. They obviously weren’t living there permanently. Love shacks?
As noted in the original Mercury News article, the Caltrain official may have been living in his full-time (he said no, prosecutors say otherwise). The goal of these News Wire stories based on other articles is to provide an abridged version of a story you might not see otherwise, with the link to the original for more details, so that didn’t make it into our version.
They will be arranged for arranging their apartments.
Ba-da, Bump !!