J ust as it was begging Congress for $1.5 billion in additional funding, the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority got what it didn’t need — another scandal less than a month after Metro employees were caught using subway stations to run a prostitution ring.
Now six suspects have been arrested in a counterfeit-farecard scam that strongly suggests an inside job.
Metro officials would not specify exactly how much revenue has been lost beyond the $16,000 initially reported, noting thatthe investigation is still ongoing. But the fact that General Manager John Catoe canceled a planned out-of-town trip to attend to the latest crisis indicates that the financial fallout may be a lot more extensive than that, especially since the farecard scam has apparently been operating for months.
Catoe himself noted that investigators are still trying to identify a “Mr. Big” mastermind behind the farecard rip-off.
Metro personnel in the police, technology and financial offices — who are supposed to be monitoring such transactions — may have been involved, since counterfeiting magnetized farecards is a bit more complicated than just printing up a batch on a color copier at Kinko’s. Catoe hinted that the counterfeiters may have had access to the same kind of software used to read legitimate farecards, since they knew how to trick the machines into accepting the fakes. Metro employees and vendors would be the most likely to have access to such privileged information.
Metro quickly reprogrammed all its farecard machines, which are now plastered with warnings that they will accept a maximum of $7 in trade-ins — as opposed to the earlier $40. Passengers are also being urged to buy farecards only from authorized sources, but that should have been the policy all along.
Catoe’s predecessor was forced out after it was reported that Metro parking lot attendants had pocketed more than $1 million. Dick White admitted at the time that Metro used manually operated counters to keep track of the number of parked vehicles. When drivers paid in cash, the car wasn’t counted and the money just disappeared, completely bypassing Metro’s internal controls.
The fact that the farecard scam was discovered by Metro officials who noticed “irregularities” in fare purchases means that things have improved somewhat since White’s day, but apparently not enough to prevent a recurrence of fraud.
Which makes it harder for Metro officials to prove they can manage what they already have while asking Congress for even more.
