Clarence Bradley, a former high-ranking employee of the city of Niagara Falls Department of Public Works, was one of that very unlucky three percent prosecuted for unemployment fraud.
Last year, after Bradley illegally applied for and obtained $3,240 in unemployment benefits, authorities threw the book at him.
With TV cameras in place at Niagara Falls City Hall to catch the action, Bradley was arrested on two felony charges and hauled before a judge. He wound up losing his $52,402-a-year city job, pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor and was ordered to repay the $3,240.
Unlike the vast majority of New Yorkers who defraud the unemployment system, Bradley now has a criminal record. Bradley, who is black, blames his fate on race and politics, an allegation that Mayor Paul A. Dyster vehemently denies.
"I have never heard of any other city of Niagara Falls employee who ever got criminally charged for taking unemployment benefits," said Bradley, who does not deny that what he did was wrong. "Usually, they just get to pay the money back, and that's it. There have been city employees caught doing much worse things than I did, who were never arrested...I feel that I was singled out."
Represented by attorney Steven M. Cohen, Bradley recently filed a discrimination complaint with the state Division of Human Rights.
At the time of his arrest last year, Bradley was the deputy director in charge of Project ZOOM, an effort to clean up Niagara Falls' most downtrodden neighborhoods. He said he was summoned to a meeting at City Hall, where he was arrested on felony counts of grand larceny and offering a false instrument, and taken away to court by State Police.
In Dyster's view, Bradley was treated fairly. The mayor said Bradley illegally took benefits meant for unemployed people. The mayor also noted that Bradley admitted his wrongdoing and took a plea deal in court.
"I had nothing against Clarence," Dyster said. "In fact, I appointed him to the job from which he was fired. There was plenty of evidence to suggest that what [Bradley] did was intentional, not an oversight. In his job with ZOOM, Clarence had some financial oversight duties, and I felt that committing fraud to get unemployment pay was a very serious matter."
Dyster took office in 2008. He said he is not aware of any other city employee being arrested for unemployment fraud during his tenure, but added that he believes an employee may have been prosecuted for that crime during a previous administration.
Bradley and Cohen allege that Bradley was singled out for harsh treatment because he is black, and also because he did not get along with Dyster's public works director.
Bradley admitted to The News that he did illegally obtain unemployment benefits for about eight weeks in late 2010. He explained that he had recently spent time in the hospital "almost in a coma" with diabetic shock and had exhausted his sick time. He said he went back to work and applied for unemployment in an effort to recoup some of the money he lost in sick time.
"Some friends at work" advised him he could apply for unemployment pay, he said.
"I had been so sick, I wasn't really thinking straight," Bradley said.
Cohen said he has handled many cases over the past 20 years in which clients illegally took unemployment benefits and were allowed to pay the money back, with no prosecution. He said Bradley is the first client he's ever had who was arrested. Several other local attorneys agreed with Cohen on that point.
State Sen. George D. Maziarz, R-Newfane, said the Bradley case makes him wonder why certain people are singled out for criminal prosecution for unemployment fraud. Maziarz said he is not suggesting that more people should be criminally charged for such activities.
"I would like to know how they pick out the three percent that they prosecute," said Maziarz, who is not on friendly terms with Dyster.
He said he believes Dyster's administration went out of his way to punish and publicly embarrass Bradley because he was not a supporter of the mayor.
"I felt that it was way over the top the way they went after Clarence Bradley," Maziarz said. "To me, it seems to be because of some personal animus."
Laura Bittner, an assistant Niagara County district attorney who prosecuted Bradley, said there was nothing unusual about the prosecution. State Labor Department officials said an individual's politics and race have no influence on the decision to seek criminal prosecutions.
