Politics & Government

Swampscott Train Riders Give MBTA a Pass

Several commuters were reluctant to blame the MBTA for the largest scam in the transportation authority's history.

Word of the largest scam in MBTA history evoked raised eyebrows at the Swampscott train station but several riders did not blame the MBTA.

MBTA Transit Police and State Police assigned to Attorney General Martha Coakley’s Office arrested Andres Townes, 27, of Revere Thursday charging him with larceny for producing and selling monthly MBTA passes.

Townes, who worked for an MBTA subcontractor, allegedly sold the passes on Craigslist at a discount.

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Coakley Spokesman Harry Pierre estimated in an interview that the scam generated “millions” of dollars since 2007 though authorities are still trying to determine how much money the scheme cost taxpayers and the MBTA.

The monthly MBTA passes were used for fares on trains, subways and buses.

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Thursday afternoon at the Swampscott station commuter Faythe Van Dam said she was sad that the scam happened but was concerned that public opinion would indict all MBTA employees.

The conductors, clerks and engineers serve customers well, day in, day out, she said.

“I think they do a tremendous job,” Van Dam said.

Swampscott resident Chrissy Jache, who just returned on the train with her son from Boston, said the sale of MBTA passes on Craigslist should have raised a red flag with the people who purchased them.

“Were they getting a deal?” she asked.

Other people at the station said they were glad the scam was uncovered and one man laughed at the scope of the audacious scheme.

Those who bought the passes on Craigslist were getting them at a discounted rate.

Townes worked for the MBTA subcontractor Cubic Transportation Systems, Inc, which sells MBTA passes sold online and over the phone.

He had access to a machine at Cubic’s Beverly office used to make the passes, and rigged it to produce real but unauthorized MBTA passes.

It’s alleged that Townes made more than 20,000 phony passes worth millions of dollars and sold them under a false name, the AG’s Office said.

In March, the MBTA traced the use of more than 400 of these fraudulent passes that were worth more than $70,000, the AG’s Office said.

The scam was foiled after a conductor asked a customer why he had a faded pass in his possession.

The customer said it went through the laundry and that he had bought it on Craigslist. The conductor confiscated the pass and gave it to transit police setting in motion the investigation.

The MBTA's poor on-time performance last winter on the Newburyport/Rockport line did generate a lot criticism from riders and triggered hearings at the State House.

But at least yesterday in Swampscott, where many people commute,not everyone was pointing a finger at the MBTA.

Eleven percent of Swampscott residents take public transportation to work, the highest amount on the North Shore, according to a US Census report.


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