A grasping Rikers Island captain shook down her underlings for a luxe bag and rides to a on line casino — saying she’d solely approve their timesheets in the event that they complied together with her lavish calls for, the feds charged Thursday.
Latanya Brown, 51, individually bilked taxpayers by billing for hundreds of {dollars} in phony “extra time” in 2024 and 2025 whereas she was dwelling it up on the betting home, an indictment says.
“The defendant overtly abused her authority as a regulation enforcement supervisor to steal taxpayer cash and terrorize her subordinates,” stated Joe Nocella, the US Legal professional for the Japanese District of New York.
The jailer allegedly squeezed her underlings by threatening to dam requests to vary shifts or take trip days until she received presents like a Louis Vuitton bag or a experience to Yonkers’ Empire Metropolis On line casino.
The Yonkers resident was even discovered to have been hanging out on the on line casino on a day in November 2024 on which she claimed to have labored a 16-hour Rikers shift, court docket papers allege.
Brown has labored for the scandal-scarred metropolis jail system since 2001 and has served as a Rikers captain since 2007.
In 2024, she was paid $231,000 in extra time on a base wage of round $126,000, and in 2025 put in for greater than $170,000 in extra time on a $130,000 wage.
The Bronx native’s luck ran out nonetheless Thursday morning when she was arrested at her Yonkers dwelling on fees of extortion and fraudulently acquiring funds from a federally funded authorities company.
The alleged scammer held up a Walmart bag to her face Thursday afternoon whereas dodging questions from reporters as she walked out of Brooklyn federal court docket on $300,000 bail.
A federal defender representing her at her arraignment, the place she pleaded not responsible, tried to speak the choose into permitting her to take a pre-booked cruise to the Bahamas that leaves Friday — a request that was finally denied.
Brown has been suspended with out pay for 30 days and shall be on modified responsibility after the suspension ends, town Correction Division stated.
“The allegations introduced at this time are deeply disturbing and run counter to every thing this division stands for,” a DOC spokesperson stated in a press release.
She faces as much as 20 years in jail if convicted on the fees she faces. Prosecutors are additionally urging the court docket to order her to repay the “ill-gotten” spoils of her alleged scheme.
