WCNYH

Longshoreman Applicant Denied Due to Multiple Acts of Fraud, Deceit or Misrepresentation

April 11, 2022

The Commission denied the application of Christian Garcia, 35, of Springfield, New Jersey, as a deep sea longshoreman based on multiple acts of fraud, deceit or misrepresentation on both his application and during a sworn Commission interview. Garcia had submitted an Application for Longshoreman Registration in September 2021 but falsely indicated on his Application that he had never been arrested for, charged with, indicted for, or convicted of the commission or the attempt or conspiracy to commit any of a number of listed crimes. Further, on his Application, Garcia also failed to list all employment in the last ten years, omitting his employment at a Walmart in Chicago, as well as the fact that he had been terminated from that job. During a Commission interview under oath, Garcia subsequently testified that he had little or no recollection of the incident for which he had been criminally charged because he claimed he was highly intoxicated at the time and suffered from memory blackouts resulting from alcoholism at that time. He also claimed to have forgotten about the job at Walmart because it was short in duration and part-time.

During a hearing before an Administrative Law Judge (ALJ), the Commission proved that Garcia had been charged with theft from a person, a crime of the third degree, after he was observed on video surveillance stealing items, including credit cards, ID’s and a cell phone from a woman’s purse in a bar in Clifton, New Jersey. The criminal charges against Garcia were subsequently dismissed following Pre-Trial Intervention (PTI). The ALJ found that Garcia’s “assertion of memory failure entirely too convenient and not at all credible.” The ALJ further found that the video surveillance evidence “reveals a very conscious theft scheme” and did not reveal “any obvious evidence of intoxication” on Garcia’s part. The Commission also proved that Garcia had been employed at a Walmart in Chicago for almost four months from late 2016 into early 2017 but was terminated for excessive lateness. The ALJ held that Garcia intended to “deceive the Commission and misrepresent his employment history”, demonstrating “his awareness of the potential negative impact of a prior termination on an employment related application.” Accordingly, the ALJ recommended denial of Garcia’s application which the Commission followed.