Complaint: Transit Planner At CCRPA Solicited Tickets, Favors From Subcontractor Under State Contract

The former transit systems manager for the Central Connecticut Regional Planning Agency has been accused by state ethics officials of soliciting gifts and favors from DATTCO, the New Britain-based transportation company that serves the planning agency’s subcontractor under a state contract to transport disabled people.

The former agency manager, John Tricarico, “allegedly used his authority over [DATTCO] to solicit free or discounted gifts, services and other items of value, which included lunch and dinners, tickets to Red Sox and Yankee baseball games, tickets to concerts, the use of subcontractor vehicles for personal use and job interviews for relatives,” the Office of State Ethics said in a statement.

The statement did not specify the number of alleged violations of state ethics laws, each of which carries a maximum fine of $10,000. Specifics are to be outlined at a hearing in early September. A finding of “probable cause” was made in the case last week by state Superior Court Judge John L. Langenbach, after a confidential hearing.

Tricarico could not be reached for comment Monday.

The Bristol-based regional planning agency in recent years has had a contract with the state Department of Transportation coordinate transportation for disabled people — or paratransit — using via mini-vans and other vehicles. CCRPA then hired DATTCO, which runs school buses, motor coaches and various other forms of transit, as its subcontractor to provide the actual transportation for the disabled through such programs as Dial-A-Ride. State DOT Commissioner James P. Redeker reported the situation to the ethics office for investigation, said the ethics office’s executive director, Carol Carson.

A formal complaint filed by the ethics office says that from July 2009 through October 2011, “Tricarico solicited free or discounted gifts, services and other items of value from DATTCO,” including: lunches and dinner; Red Sox and Yankees tickets; New England Patriots football tickets; Mohegan Sun rock concert tickets; use of DATTCO vehicles for “moving personal items”; use of DATTCO vehicles and drivers for personal trips to New Jersey and Connecticut casinos; rides to and from work and to personal appointments; and job interviews at DATTCO for his relatives.

DATTCO’s lawyer in the matter, John Droney, said Monday that the transportation company has been “cooperating completely and fully with the Office of State Ethics.” Droney added: “We feel that we were victimized by John Tricarico and we are doing everything we can can to assist in the investigation.” He declined further comment on any of the gifts and favors that the ethics agency said Tricarico obtained.

Tricarico resigned last October, said CCRPA deputy director Francis Pickering.

CCRPA meeting minutes show that last Sept. 13, Tricarico had proposed extending the existing contract with DATTCO from July 1, 2012 through June 30, 2017. However, that proposal was not adopted, Pickering said. Instead, the original contract between CRRPA and DATTCO was left intact, and it called for two optional one-year contract extensions starting this past July 1. CCRPA has exercised the first of the the one-year extensions with DATTCO, said Pickering.

CCRPA minutes show that its board members opposed claim for state unemployment compensation. “The status of resigned CCRPA employee John Tricarico’s unemployment claim was briefly discussed,” according to minutes of a Feb. 2, 2012 meeting of the agency’s personnel committee. “Committee members expressed concern that the claim would be paid by all the Citizens of Connecticut, and that, in principle, it should be objected to,” the minutes said. Tricarico’s state unemployment was later revoked, Pickering said.