A Penny Taxed, a Penny Wasted

Channel 12 reporter Tim White did some surveillance of the Providence Sewer Department and in part 1 revealed some observations that certainly wouldn't seem to have involved isolated incidents, this one in particular:

His name - Anthony Cipriano, Jr. Records show Cipriano is a heavy equipment operator for the sewer department, and a shop steward for the local 1033 laborer's union. We also caught him misusing a city truck.

Target 12 cameras capture Cipriano miles away from work, running errands in city trucks for hours; all against city policy.

We catch him: twice taking the city truck into Cranston to pick something up from his second job at a security firm; stopping at a Cranston bank;and several times driving to a North Providence hair salon and staying for more than an hour.

On this day, Cipriano arrives at work at 10:30 in the morning. Two hours later, he leaves and arrives at a Cranston dentist's office. More than an hour later, he departs.

Thinking he's heading back to work, we get in front of him. We're wrong.

"Oh burger king... Burger king."

Apparently, now it's lunch time.

On this five-hour work day, Cipriano spends nearly two hours on personal business.

According to the Transparency Train, sponsored by OSPRI (PDF), Cipriano's total compensation in 2007 was $77,299, including base pay of $46,006.88 and $8,084.93 (the rest being the cost of benefits). The other sewer employee caught in impropriety in the segment, foreman Anthony Greenwood received $85,199.14, with salary and overtime of $55,453.75 and $5,292.38.

Part 2 airs tonight, and the preview highlights supervisor Algot Abrahamson, whose remuneration was $82,715.38, with salary and overtime of $63,913.71 and $4,793.54.