A Manhattan postal worker has been charged with cranking out and selling phony parking placards and credentials for high-profile sporting events - a troubling security breach.
Officials from the NFL, NHL, NBA and Major League Baseball were alerted after cops busted Jerome Knauer, 43, yesterday and seized a trove of bogus but realistic access tags. Knauer, a nerdy bachelor who co-workers nicknamed "Sleepy" for his habit of sleeping on the job, used his home computer to create the documents, cops said. "He looks like a bum, but he paints like a maestro," said a law enforcement source who saw some of the fakes. A mail sorter at the Lenox Hill Station postal facility on the upper East Side, Knauer drew the focus of investigators after complaints about phony NYPD parking placards cropped up. One of the placards - which allow cops to park in off-limits zones - had the markings of Queens' 115th Precinct, where Detective Joseph Trovato began a probe. He traced the card to Knauer, and cops used an informant to buy a bogus placard from him - then got a search warrant for the suspect's room Thursday morning, sources said. On his computer, cops found a pile of templates, along with photos of beautiful women he apparently fantasized about. The cache included: a credential for the Stanley Cup locker room; staff tags for an All-Star Game; an FDNY parking placard; a press pass for a Super Bowl game; a TV access card for a 2007 Marlins game, and a suite access pass to a 2007 Police concert at Madison Square Garden. Co-workers said Knauer was talking on his cell phone with his father, who he lives with in Brooklyn's Trump Village, when he was arrested about 8 a.m. "I know why you're here," Knauer told cops, according to colleagues. "I knew you were coming. I was expecting you." Knauer tried to hand his car keys to a colleague as cops and Postal Inspectors moved in to nab him, co-workers said. The discovery was alarming because credentials could give anyone - including terrorists - access to the bowels of arenas and sports superstars, and the ability to bypass weapons screening. "This is definitely a security issue," said one league executive. It was unclear who bought credentials from Knauer or whether anyone managed to infiltrate the events. Co-workers said Knauer attended the All-Star Game at Yankee Stadium in July. "Now you gotta wonder where he got the tickets," a colleague said. Knauer was charged with forgery and possession of stolen property and a forged instrument. Source -- Posted By SF to Jewish And Breaking News at 9/22/2008 12:54:00 PM --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Jewish Breaking News" group. To comment on this post, goto http://jewishbreakingnews.blogspot.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] To join our mobile text message group for your phone. Send JOIN VOSIZNIES to 8762 To end, send QUIT VOSIZNIES. or goto http://www.upoc.com/group.jsp?group=vosiznies -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
