2 ex-Caltrain employees sentenced to jail for building secret apartments inside train stations

SAN MATEO COUNTY, Calif. -- Two erstwhile employees of California commuter obstruction enactment Caltrain were sentenced to a corporate six months successful jailhouse this week.

Both men were charged backmost successful 2024 with the felony theft of nationalist funds aft they embezzled wealth to physique concealed apartments -- 1 astatine the Caltrain presumption successful Burlingame and the different astatine the adjacent Millbrae station.

"This is wherefore I accidental to people, ne'er accidental you've seen it all, due to the fact that thing caller similar this volition travel up," said San Mateo County District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe.

Wagstaffe tells our sister station, ABC7 News successful San Francisco, the men lived wrong the apartments for respective years.

In total, they spent implicit $40,000 gathering them and adjacent had things similar bureau spaces and surviving rooms inside.

"When it's nationalist wealth that is being stolen by a nationalist employee, that's egregious. That takes it up a level," Wagstaffe said.

Both men followed a akin strategy successful bid to make the apartments. They made this enactment by hiring contractors to remodel erstwhile bureau abstraction but kept invoices nether $3,000 each, truthful they could beryllium approved.

Caltrain was unavailable for an interrogation but sent ABC7 News a statement, which reads successful part: "The misuse of nationalist funds for backstage usage is simply a usurpation of the law, Caltrain argumentation and the public's trust...in cases wherever determination is grounds of unlawful behaviour by an worker oregon a contractor, we instantly enactment to rectify the situation."

Outside the Burlingame Caltrain presumption Friday afternoon, galore passengers were shocked to larn what had been going on.

"Now I'm looking astatine the building, I privation to cognize what benignant of furnishings helium has upstairs," said Teddy Agreda.

Bill Craumer tells america helium takes the bid astir erstwhile a week. He said helium ne'er had immoderate denotation idiosyncratic was really surviving there.

"And I'm amazed cipher other noticed arsenic well. So, helium evidently kept good nether the radar for everyone," Craumer said.

Caltrain was told to support the apartments arsenic they are portion the cases were making their mode done court. And adjacent though they were comparatively simple, they'll apt permission an content connected galore present for rather immoderate time.

"Maybe erstwhile successful a portion successful life, radical tin bash these brainsick things. I deliberation he's loco," Agreda said.