NYCHA suspends 2 staffers in OT orgies
Grounds supervisor, who’s kin to agency big, and caretaker bumped with no pay in probe
NYCHA has suspended two staff members implicated in a widening scandal at a Bronx public housing development as investigators launch an internal probe into allegations of boozy, on-theclock sex parties there, the Daily News has learned.
A supervisor and a caretaker at Throggs Neck Houses were suspended without pay for 30 days pending the internal investigation, NYCHA sources confirmed Wednesday.
Brianne Pawson, 29, until Friday the supervisor of grounds at Throggs Neck, and Tayron Hazel, a caretaker there, were notified of their suspensions by NYCHA headquarters a day after The News broke the story on overtime-funded orgies at the huge public housing complex near the Whitestone Bridge.
Sources have told The News that NYCHA supervisors and some caretakers held regular orgies inside a groundskeeper shop at the development. At times, the workers even put in for overtime for the hours spent boozing it up and having sex.
Payroll records show Pawson had a base pay of $66,323 in 2017 with total pay of $73,273; Hazel got $43,079 in base pay in 2017 and total pay of $53,399.
On Wednesday Pawson, who is the daughter of a top NYCHA executive, Charles Pawson, dashed out of her home in Queens, covering her face with her hands and ignoring shouted questions by a News reporter. She has declined to answer questions from The News since Monday.
NYCHA management first learned of the staff shenanigans at Throggs Neck in May, and in June NYCHA General Manager Vito Mustaciuolo informed the city Department of Investigation that the agency was looking into the allegations.
In early August, the Investigation Department also got a detailed tip about the onthe-clock orgies, but decided to kick the information back to NYCHA. Last Friday, Mustaciuolo took the first concrete steps in response to the allegations, reassigning all staff from Throggs Neck to other developments.
The orgy scandal erupted as NYCHA struggles to comply with federal, state and local laws and regulations requiring that the authority provide adequate, habitable apartments for its 400,000 tenants.
In June, NYCHA and Mayor de Blasio entered into a consent decree with federal prosecutors agreeing to the appointment of a federal monitor. The agreement came as Manhattan U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Berman filed an 80-page complaint detailing how NYCHA managers have for years lied and covered up failures to address lead paint and toxic mold issues in the authority’s 176,000 aging units.