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Fair L.B. firefighter charged with ‘defrauding’ city
Pleads not guilty after arrest for falsifying bid to fix boiler at Rec Center
A local firefighter was arrested on Friday for allegedly “defrauding” the city by using false information to win a bid for work at the Recreation Center two years ago.
Long Beach resident Jay Gusler, 52, was arraigned before Supreme Court Justice Frank Gulotta and pleaded not guilty to grand larceny and other felony charges after he allegedly “misled” the city to win a bid to install a new boiler at the Rec only to perform shoddy work that cost the city money.
Prosecutors say Gusler, who turned himself in to investigators on Friday following a grand jury indictment, was not qualified for the job and used the name of a licensed plumbing company without the company’s consent in order to secure the bid to replace a boiler damaged by Hurricane Sandy. By doing so, prosecutors said Gusler denied the job to a qualified bidder.
“Public facilities like this recreation center provide essential services for taxpayers, and as such, they need to be protected,” Acting Nassau County District Attorney Madeline Singas said in a news release. “My office will continue to root out fraud and to hold anyone who abuses the public’s trust accountable for their conduct. We are grateful for our partnership with the city of Long Beach on this case.”
City Manager Jack Schnirman said that Gusler, a longtime career firefighter who earns $110,430 per year, was immediately suspended without pay and added that further administrative action will be taken.
Gusler, who was released on his own recognizance, has been a vocal critic of the administration, most recently over planned staffing cuts that would replace more than a dozen members of the Long Beach Professional Firefighters Local 287, the union representing the city’s career firefighters, with civilian paramedics at significantly lower salaries.
Gusler’s attorney, Joseph LoPiccolo, said it is common for firefighters and police officers to work second jobs. He said his client was hired as a subcontractor for the work and denied any wrongdoing.
