Former DPW worker convicted for stealing overtime

WHITE PLAINS – A former Yonkers city Public Works employee Tuesday was convicted in Westchester County court on all 10 counts of an indictment charging her with stealing unearned overtime pay.

Denise Dunham, 57, of Danbury, CT was found guilty on two counts of grand larceny in the third degree, seven counts of falsifying business records, both felonies, and a misdemeanor count of official misconduct.

She was charged with scheming with two other former DPW workers, Anthony Manzo, 60, of Wappingers Falls, and Ernest Anderton, 65, of Yonkers, to submit phony overtime vouchers. Both Manzo and Anderton fled guilty to one count of official misconduct.

All three are alleged to have stolen more than $39,000 in unearned overtime between January 2004 and May 2005.

They were arrested after a 14 month investigation by the Public Integrity Bureau of the Westchester County District Attorney’s Office and the Office of Inspector General for the City of Yonkers.

Manzo and Anderton, who worked in the city’s water bureau, were originally charged with each receiving over 260 hours of unearned overtime in 2005. Further investigation revealed both had received several thousand dollars of additional unearned OT during 2004.

Dunham was a secretary/payroll clerk for the water bureau and her responsibilities including tabulating regular and overtime pay.

When sentenced in July, Dunham faces up to seven years in state prison.