A Transportation and Public Works Department (DTOP) employee must pay a $6,000 fine for ethics violations tied to a scheme in which she used her access to the DAVID+ system to alter the status of several traffic tickets, including one of her own. She must also make restitution of $505.70, according to a resolution of the Office of Government Ethics (OEG).
DTOP did not immediately say whether she still works at the agency. According to the OEG, Sonia Colón Quiñones, working as a data-processing equipment operator, changed the status of four tickets dated 2019 from unpaid to paid. They totaled $1,340.64 ($500, $500, $0.65 and $340).
She also changed the status of 15 tickets to "invalid" without justification. Five of those were for $50 and one for $1,000, totaling $1,320.05. A ticket can be invalidated in the system when it appears repeated or duplicated, or when it does not belong to a citizen because the driver’s name or vehicle information on the ticket does not match.
The OEG found the conduct violated three articles of the Ethics Law: as a public servant she used her position to improperly benefit others, and she had a conflict of interest by erasing a ticket of her own. It also caused losses to the public treasury of $2,660.70.