Former NYPD Cop Going To Prison For Disability Fraud

CAMPBELL HALL, NY — A former New York City cop will be going to prison for stealing disability benefits. Geoffrey S. Berman, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, said Friday that Gerard Scparta, 54, a former New York Police Department police officer, was sentenced to 18 months in prison for fraudulently obtaining more than $630,000 in disability benefits from the Social Security Administration and underreporting income on his taxes by about $268,000.

Authorities said that, while he was illegally collecting disability benefits, Scparta, of Campbell Hall, Orange County, earned a total of about $1.6 million working as a security guard and host at a strip club in Manhattan.

Scparta had previously pleaded guilty to tax evasion and theft of government property.

Berman said that Scparta collected the benefits by claiming he could not work in any capacity due to anxiety and depression.

"During the very same period, Scparta felt well enough to earn over $1.6 million working at a Manhattan strip club," he said.

"Gerard Scparta perverted the Disability Insurance system for his own personal gain depleting a system intended for people with legitimate claims who depend on those benefits for their well-being," Berman said. "For his reprehensible conduct, Scparta has been sentenced to federal prison and will trade velvet ropes for steel bars."

According to prosecutors, between 1986 and 1997, Scparta worked as a NYPD police officer. In 1997, at age 32, after sustaining an injury, he was referred to someone who helped him fraudulently obtain disability benefits.

The application documents, which Scparta signed, stated falsely that he suffered from severe depression and anxiety and could not do anything around his house and was unable to work in any capacity.

Additionally, he was coached to make the same false statements to physicians who examined him and submitted reports to the Social Security Administration.

Scparta also claimed on multiple forms that he did not work and failed to report earning from employment as required.

Authorities said that, from around April 2004 to around December 2017, he worked as a strip club security guard and host.

Scparta received a total of about $638,000 in disability benefits for himself, his wife and his children, while earning about $1.6 million from the strip club work.

He also used a company registered to his wife to report income that he earned from the strip club and falsely underreported income by a total of about $268,602 for the tax years 2012 through 2016.

In addition to his prison sentence, Scparta was sentenced to three years of supervised release and ordered to make restitution in the amount of $726,517 and to forfeit the $638,586 in Social Security disability benefits he obtained fraudulently.

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