NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ–A 49-year-old ticket agent for NJTransit has been arrested and charged with official misconduct, theft, and forgery over a scam to sell counterfeit tickets at New Brunswick’s downtown train station.

John A. Davey, who hails from East Brunswick and worked at the agency for 29 years, is set to appear on June 13 at Veteran’s Courthouse in Essex County, where the charges were filed.

On May 22, Acting Essex County Prosecutor Carolyn A. Murray and New Jersey Transit Police Chief Christopher Trucillo jointly announced Davey’s arrest.

Davey allegedly printed tickets on authentic “ticket stock,” basically blank tickets, that he had allegedly removed from the train station.

New Jersey Transit Police recovered additional ticket stock and a thermal printer from Davey’s East Brunswick home, according to authorities.

It was just the latest embarrassment for the embattled state agency, which has been heavily criticized for its mismanagement and failing infrastructure in recent years.

New Jersey Transit Police Fraud Investigation Unit and the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office (ECPO) conducted the investigation, according to RLSMedia.com

Murray commended  NJTransit Detectives Michael Bavosa and James Garrison III for “outstanding work” on the case.

Prosecutors said that Davey had been “forging rail tickets and selling them for cash,” according to the official statement. 

“He would place ‘NO CASH’ signs on NJ TRANSIT’s ticket vending machines at the New Brunswick Station, which caused cash paying customers to come to the ticket counter to purchase tickets.”

According to authorities, Davey was in possession of $1,285.95 in cash and 101 forged tickets when he was arrested, apparently in uniform according to his mugshot.

It’s not the first time an NJ Transit conductor was charged with a ticket scam.

In 2010, an assistant conductor from Rahway pleaded guilty to theft by deception and official misconduct for reselling tickets between January 2007 and September 2009, according to NJ.com.

Then, in 2012, a train conductor was charged with an elaborat escheme where he pretended to punch tickets for passengers for an unauthorized charge which he would keep, according to the same report.

Two other conductors on the North Jersey Coast Line were accused of recruiting passengers to participate in the ruse on the North Jersey Coast Line.

The investigation into Davey’s alleged scheme is “active and ongoing,” according to the ECPO.

Anyone with information is asked to contact Detective Bavosa at 973-491-8953.

Editor at New Brunswick Today | 732-993-9697 | editor@newbrunswicktoday.com | Website

Charlie is the founder and editor of New Brunswick Today, and the winner of the Awbrey Award for Community-Oriented Local Journalism. He is a proud Rutgers University journalism graduate, a community organizer, and a former independent candidate for mayor of New Brunswick.

Charlie is the founder and editor of New Brunswick Today, and the winner of the Awbrey Award for Community-Oriented Local Journalism. He is a proud Rutgers University journalism graduate, a community organizer, and a former independent candidate for mayor of New Brunswick.