Thursday, 4:30 PM
MBTA police: T retiree stole $40,000 in coins and tokens
(Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority)
MBTA authorities say the above image taken by a surveillance camera at Wellington station shows Robert Gibson, a retired transit electrician, after he loaded stolen tokens into a fare collection machine.
By Andrew Ryan, Globe Staff
After working 20 years as an MBTA electrician, retiree Robert Gibson was accused today of spending much of his career slowly stealing from the transit authority, quarter by quarter, token by token -- taking just enough so no one would notice as he repaired fare collection boxes.
Gibson, 69, who retired Oct. 1, seems to have been outdone by the advent of the CharlieCard, which replaced tokens last year, according to officials from the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority.
Gibson drew the attention of investigators when he was spotted on several occasions pumping handfuls of tokens into fare vending machines at Wellington station. He was adding the tokens, each worth $1.25, onto CharlieCards, which hold a value of up to $100. Surveillance cameras filmed him depositing at least $3,500 in tokens onto 45 CharlieCards, they added.
When MBTA police went to Gibson's home Thursday, authorities said he confessed and led police into his basement. Investigators said they found more than $40,000 in coins and tokens wrapped in small paper bags from local coffee shops and stashed in 17 plastic jugs, each large enough to hold 5 gallons.
Gibson has been charged with larceny by scheme and is scheduled to be arraigned March 21 in Boston Municipal Court.
"This case illustrates one of the important reasons for implementing the CharlieCard system," said Daniel Grabauskas, the general manager of the MBTA, in a statement. "This totally automated fare collection system provides us with the technology and auditing tools necessary to properly manage our revenues and account for every dollar that comes into the MBTA."
