Crime & Safety
Two UConn West Hartford Employees Accused of Using State Funds for Home Repairs
Mark O'Neill and Jose Cruz were arrested April 16 in connection with their use of university contractors to perform work on their homes on state time, and improper charges on state credit cards.
Written and reported by Tim Jensen.
After more than a yearlong investigation, two employees from the University of Connecticut's Greater Hartford Campus in West Hartford have been arrested and charged with having two state contractors do renovation work on their private homes on state time.
Mark O'Neill, 56, facilities supervisor at UConn's West Hartford campus, and building superintendent Jose Cruz, 58, were charged April 16 with first-degree larceny and conspiracy to commit first-degree larceny. They were each released on $10,000 nonsurety bond, and are scheduled to appear in Hartford Superior Court on June 11.
According to NBC Connecticut, O'Neill, who resides at 373 South Main Street in Suffield, sent two campus janitorial contractors to do renovations on his house, as well as a nearby rental home, while they were working on state time. Cruz also had the contractors perform work at his Bloomfield residence while they were on the clock.
The NBC report said the arrest warrant for O'Neill and Cruz indicated they had improperly charged $1,761.74 to their UConn credit cards for personal use, and authorized overtime payments for the two contractors totaling $5,689.89.
The warrant states Cruz "stated he knew it was wrong but that he and others had been doing it for years and that his boss, Mark O'Neill, did not have a problem with it," the NBC report says.
Documents obtained from Suffield Town Hall indicate O'Neill is "managing partner" in The Hamlet on South Main, a 10-lot subdivision under construction at 432 South Main Street.
O'Neill and Cruz are both on paid leave from the university, NBC reported.
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