Mercer park maintenance worker caught sleeping on job
TRENTON » The thought of work puts some Mercer County employees to sleep.
Frank Pinto, a senior park maintenance worker, was captured dozing off recently on the job in several photos provided to The Trentonian.
Two pictures of Pinto show him lounged back on a Mercer County Park bench with his mouth open catching a snooze in the East picnic area last Friday at approximately 10:30 a.m. Another photo appears to show Pinto with his eyes shut in a Park Commission utility vehicle in the West picnic area of the West Windsor park about 9:30 a.m. on June 15.
The photos were provided to the county by The Trentonian.
Asked if Pinto’s actions were appropriate behavior for an employee, county spokesman Julie Willmot said, “If an employee violates the rules, he or she is subject to disciplinary action.”
“By and large, Mercer County employees work hard, with many going beyond their duties,” Willmot said Tuesday in an email. “On Monday, three Mercer County employees were credited with saving the life of a man who had a medical attack on the county golf course. It’s unfortunate that one individual can overshadow the great work of thousands of others.”
Pinto earned an salary of $59,083 last year, records show. The maintenance worker was hired by the Mercer County Park Commission in December 2003.
Efforts to reach Pinto for comment were unsuccessful.
The Park Commission, its former head and a nonprofit that raised funds for the parks and are currently under criminal investigation by the New Jersey Attorney General’s Office.
In April 2016, the New Jersey Attorney General’s Office raided the Mercer County Park Commission’s offices as part of an investigation into public corruption, theft, corruption of public resources and official misconduct.
Kevin Bannon, the former executive director of the Park Commission, was canned last June from his job at the county. No reasons were provided.
Grand jury interviews are currently underway, Bannon’s attorney previously told The Trentonian.
The county has already spent $780,000 in legal fees to defend itself and the attorney general’s office has yet to hand out any charges.
A source with intimate knowledge of the situation called Pinto “one of Bannon’s leftover.”
“They took care of him for years and they never did anything about him sleeping,” said the source, who wished to remain anonymous for fear of retribution.
Sleeping at work is not just an activity tied to the Park Commission in Mercer County.
Last October, The Trentonian reported on a handful of pictures showing Mercer County Department of Transportation (DOT) employees sleeping on the job while one worker was inexplicably caught with his pants down outside a county truck.
At the time, Willmot explained county employees are “entitled by law to work breaks and to a lunch hour.”
“If they choose to nap or rest on their personal time, that is their prerogative,” the spokeswoman said in October. “If there is a complaint about a particular Mercer County employee, that complaint will be taken seriously and will be handled appropriately.”
The county’s DOT is overseen by Deputy Administrator Aaron Watson, who is the brother of U.S. Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-12). Watson was also appointed to executive director of the Park Commission after Bannon’s termination.