Long Beach councilman faces added charges

A Long Beach councilman has been indicted on charges that he illegally collected more than $14,000 in unemployment benefits by failing to report his government job.

Democratic Councilman Michael Fagen, 55, was indicted this week by a grand jury for third-degree grand larceny, petty larceny and 38 counts of first-degree offering a false instrument for filing. An investigation revealed he hid his government job from the state Department of Labor to collect the unemployment benefits, prosecutors said.

Fagen began receiving $405 in weekly unemployment insurance benefits from the Department of Labor on Sept. 24, 2009, prosecutors said. That November, Fagen was elected to the City Council, a part-time position with a yearly salary of $19,828.

After his inauguration, Fagen every week falsely certified he was unemployed, prosecutors said. He also did not report his employment as a salesman for a hotel membership benefits company, they said.

Fagen was charged in June with collecting more than $7,000 in unemployment compensation, but further investigation found he had collected twice as much, prosecutors said.

But Fagen's lawyer, Marc Gann, called the case a "political witch hunt," claiming the Republican administration voted out of office in November set Fagen up by filing false documents on his behalf after he became councilman in 2009.

Gann, of Mineola, said Fagen reported to the city working as little as six hours per week as councilman, but the city submitted to the Department of Labor that Fagen was working full time, making him ineligible for unemployment benefits.

Former City Council President Thomas Sofield Jr. and former City Manager Charles Theofan, both Republicans, did not return repeated calls for comment.

Gann said Fagen questioned the city when 80 hours appeared on a biweekly payroll stub, but he was assured it was "just a bookkeeping measure."

Fagen also was shocked when the state comptroller's office contacted him for his signature on pension papers he had not submitted, Gann said, papers the attorney claims were submitted by a city official Gann declined to name.

A spokesman for the state comptroller's office declined to comment until Gann's claims could be researched. The Department of Labor did not immediately follow up on a request for comment.

Fagen faces up to 7 years in prison if convicted, the Nassau district attorney's office said in a news release.

The investigation was conducted by the district attorney's office and the state Department of Labor following notification by Long Beach.