7 former, current state transit staffers charged in overtime pay fraud scheme in Massachusetts

Seven former and one current Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MTBA) employees have been charged with a federal superseding indictment alleging that they falsified records and reports and then fraudulently collected overtime pay. The MTBA, although it collects fares, is heavily subsidized by tax dollars. 

According to the Department of Justice, defendants Brian Pfaffinger, Ronald Gamble, Magda Trinh, Jensen Vatel, Nathalie Mendes, Danny Barbosa, and Matthew Leonard have been charged with various crimes, including conspiring to commit wire fraud, falsifying records, and wire fraud.

The defendants were all former Red Line Maintenance of Way employees, per the DOJ. Pfaffinger, Gamble, Vatel, and Mendes had been previously indicted in May 2025 and were arrested that month. Trinh, Barbosa, and Leonard were taken into custody on Friday morning.

As employees for the MTBA on the Red Line, they were tasked with inspecting the tracks and then documenting their work with an MTBA-issued application on their phones called MaxTrax, where they are able to generate and complete reports for inspections.

Between January 1 and October 16, 2024, Pfaffinger, Gamble, Trinh, Vatel, and Mendes are believed to have falsified reports or helped submit false inspections on the tracks.

In addition, Gamble and Trinh are alleged to have told the other inspectors to lengthen the inspection time and avoid scrutiny from MTBA oversight.

Authorities have alleged that when they claimed to be doing the inspections, Gamble, Trinh, Vatel, and Mendes were often at employee break areas. Oftentimes, Gamble, Vatel, Barbosa, and Leonard allegedly spent time on private car repairs in the garage at the MTBA facility. Pfaffinger is alleged to have known about the activities of his subordinates and even had them work on his own private vehicle as well.

The indictment states that Gamble submitted overtime requests for some of the other employees despite them not completing their normal shift to allegedly compensate them for work performed on the vehicles during MTBA work hours.