Former New York City police officer Gerard Scparta was sentenced to 18 months in federal prison on August 9 for fraudulently obtaining over $630,000 in disability benefits from the Social Security Administration and under reporting income on his taxes by some $268,000.

At the same time Scparta was fraudulently collecting disability benefits, he earned a total of approximately $1.6 million working as a security guard and host at a strip club located in Manhattan. Scparta previously pled guilty to tax evasion and theft of government property, Mid Hudson News reports.

Between in or about 1986 and in or about 1997, Scparta worked as a police officer with the NYPD. In or about 1997, after reportedly sustaining an injury at the age of 32, Scparta was referred to an individual who helped him fraudulently obtain disability benefits.

Scparta signed disability paper work that falsely stated, among other things, that he suffered from severe depression and anxiety, could not do anything around his house, and was unable to work in any capacity. 

In addition, Scparta made the same false statements to physicians who examined him for the purpose of establishing his disability and submitting reports to the Social Security Administration. 

For example, in one examination by a physician, Scparta pretended that he did not know where he was, and could not remember the last four vice presidents, and had trouble repeating numbers that were told to him. Based on these false statements and representations by Scparta in documents and reports submitted to the Social Security Administration, he was approved to receive disability benefits from in or about 1997 onward.

In addition to lying about his disability status and inability to work, Scparta falsely claimed on multiple forms submitted to the Social Security Administration that he did not work, and failed to report earnings from employment as required. 

In fact, from in or about April 2004 up to and including at least in or about December 2017, Scparta worked as a security guard and host at a Strip Club. From in or about 1997 up to and including in or about 2017, Scparta received a total of over approximately $638,000 in disability benefits for himself, his wife, and his children, while at the same time Scparta earned approximately $1.6 million from his work at the Strip Club. 

Scparta engaged in tax evasion by concealing and attempting to conceal from the IRS the nature and extent of his income. Specifically, Scparta utilized a nominee company registered to his wife to report income that Scparta earned from the Strip Club and falsely under reported that income by a total of approximately $268,602 for the tax years 2012 through 2016.

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

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