AIRPORT COURTHOUSE — A former Big Blue Bus supervisor found guilty of abusing City Hall’s rideshare program that provides employees with free bus passes if they take public transit to work has been sentenced to 30 days in jail and ordered to pay restitution and spend 45 days on a beach cleanup crew.
Chief Deputy City Attorney Terry White, who oversees the Criminal Division of the City Attorney’s Office, said Crystal Buckner was sentenced Wednesday. The amount of restitution has yet to be determined. City officials are trying to determine the exact cost of EZ transit passes between 2006-09.
White said the next court date is scheduled for Sept. 9, at which time he believes the restitution amount will be released.
Buckner was found guilty earlier this month of eight misdemeanor counts including forgery, theft and embezzlement following a six-day trial at the Airport Courthouse.
Three BBB employees, including Buckner, were arrested after a 2009 audit of City Hall’s transportation demand management program discovered irregularities in applications for free transit passes.
Charges against the other two employees, Michael Brown, a bus driver, and Kalin Green, a transit operations assistant, were dropped. Kalin was a witness for the prosecution in Buckner’s trial.
During the trial, White said he and co-counsel Alicia Cortrite, a deputy city attorney, alleged Buckner had forged the names of other employees on applications for free transit passes under the EZ pass program. Several BBB employees whose names were allegedly forged testified for the prosecution, White said.
kevinh@www.smdp.com
