REDWOOD CITY, Calif. — A former Caltrain official has been convicted of embezzling public funds to build a secret apartment in the historic Burlingame, Calif., station used by the commuter rail operator.
The San Jose Mercury News reports a jury found Joseph Navarro guilty of one felony count of misappropriation of public funds. The result today (April 30, 2025) rejected defense arguments that Navarro’s supervisor had given him permission to use funds to renovate the space and reside there while working 80-hour weeks, and that the charges had not been filed within the three-year statute of limitations.
Navarro will be sentenced on June 11 and could face up to four years in state prison.
Navarro, formerly a deputy director at Caltrain, was charged just over a year ago [see “Former Caltrain official, contractor face felony charges …,” Trains News Wire, March 28, 2024]. He was alleged to have conspired with a contractor to spend $42,000 to remodel office space inside the station opened in 1894 and added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1978. Receipts were kept under $3,000 so they did not require further approval. Prosecutors said the work resulted in an apartment with a living room, bedroom and gym.
The contractor, Seth Worden, pleaded no contest to misdemeanor embezzlement by a public officer in a plea deal earlier this year. He faces up to five months in jail and was ordered to pay $8,144 in restitution.
Worden was caught in 2020, but Navarro’s apartment wasn’t detected until Caltrain received a tip in 2022, officials said when the charges were announced.
San Mateo County District Attorney Stepehn Wagstaffe told the Mercury News he was “pleased that the jury was able to see through the defense and recognize that he had no authorization from anybody to build this little apartment there at the train station with taxpayer money.”
If this employee was working 80 hours a week,and I am assuming he did not live close to this location, it seems reasonable to me that he have a room to stay at, instead of a motel.On the other hand if he used it like in the movie THE APARTMENT with Jack Lemmon.He personally did not gain any monetary amount, and to be charged with a felony seems overkill.
Gee, I cant imagine who sent the tip off to Caltrain.