Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Occupy leader caught falsifying time sheets at work

By CARL CAMPANILE
Last Updated: 8:04 AM, December 12, 2011


A leader of Occupy Wall Street abruptly quit his job as a city public school teacher after getting caught red-handed falsifying time sheets, The Post has learned.

Former South Brooklyn Community HS science teacher Justin Wedes, who often rails against corporate greed and corruption, “cut and pasted’’ the signature of a supervisor onto his time sheets while applying for a national education grant, Special Schools Commissioner of Investigation Richard Condon found.

Wedes, 25, who helps run the OWS Twitter feeds and overall media operation, was a key strategist in the Zuccotti Park demonstrations and was arrested during one protest march.

The schools probe was triggered by one of Wedes’ bosses, who contacted the schools investigator and reported that the teacher had tacked a copy of the boss’ signature onto time sheets — to make it appear they had been authorized — without the boss’ knowledge and consent, according to the report obtained by The Post.

The paperwork was tied to a $4,725 AmeriCorps grant that Wedes, a second-year New York City teaching fellow, sought through the City University of New York. An official there who reviewed Wedes’ application said it looked like he had forged the signatures, the report said.

When Condon’s investigators first questioned Wedes about the allegation, he responded, “I don’t want to talk about it now.” He requested legal representation.

Shortly after being questioned by Condon’s probers, Wedes told a school official he forged the supervisor’s signature on the time sheets because he “probably would have signed them anyway,” the report said.

He tried to get at least one other South Brooklyn HS administrator to sign the paperwork so he wouldn’t lose the grant. The official declined to do so because of the probe.

Wedes then notified a Condon prober that he had quit his position at South Brooklyn and declined further comment.

His resignation prevented his likely firing.

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