November SNAP benefits issued to families in need

Long Island Rail Road foreman John Cerulli arrived at work for a weekend overtime shift wearing a swim shirt, bathing suit and flip-flops, a co-worker told investigators. He swiped his employee ID card at a time clock at the Ronkonkoma facility and allegedly announced: "Don’t bother looking for me. I'll be next to my pool with a margarita."

Using cloned identification badges hidden in refrigerators and lockers, and coordinating with co-workers through group chats, some LIRR workers left work early nearly every day for weeks at a time, according to a three-year investigation by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority's inspector general. Others hit the gym, ate meals at home and worked second jobs while on the clock. Alfonso A. Castillo reports in NEWSDAY that the 65-page report, released last month, lays out the brazenness of the LIRR’s latest employee time-fraud scandal, according to investigators and MTA officials. The probe implicated three dozen LIRR workers — seven of them supervisors — in a scheme to create and distribute counterfeit employee badges sold for $5-$40 and used to cover up absences, like Cerulli’s alleged on-the-clock pool day. The workers exploited COVID-era health precautions that suspended biometric time clocks — which had been implemented after the last timecard scandal, according to the report.

Several LIRR workers admitted their involvement and implicated others to investigators. Others denied any involvement. Some refused to answer investigators' questions.

"It was the ‘culture,’ " at the LIRR's Maintenance of Equipment department to have a cloned card, one employee told investigators.

Most have been disciplined by the LIRR, but have not faced any criminal charges.

Cerulli was forced to pay back $3,196 to the LIRR after he was caught on surveillance skipping out of work on 14 days over three months.

Although most of the implicated employees are facing what the MTA calls "severe" consequences — including lengthy unpaid suspensions and, potentially, termination — others avoided punishment by retiring before the investigators' findings were released. None have faced criminal charges. Several, including those who were consistently among the railroad's highest overtime earners in recent years, remain on the LIRR’s payroll.

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With the end of the federal government shutdown, New York has issued November SNAP benefits providing food assistance to low-income families. But the resumption of the benefit program doesn’t eliminate food insecurity altogether. Denise Civiletti reports on Riverheadlocal.com that the maximum monthly benefit varies by household size, from $298 for a single person to $994 for a family of four. To be eligible for SNAP, gross household incomes cannot exceed $23,484 per year for a single person and $48,228 per year for a family of four (where all members of the household are under age 60.)

With food prices rising higher than overall inflation, more families are struggling to put food on the table, and more people are turning to food pantries to fill the gaps. More people were seeking food assistance at food pantries even before the shutdown and the delay in November SNAP payments.

The uncertainty about whether or when SNAP benefits would be paid increased anxiety and demand at food pantries in November, said Michael Haynes of Long Island Cares-The Harry Chapin Food Bank, which distributes food to 330 food pantries and soup kitchens in Suffolk and Nassau.

But that’s only part of the story.

‘We saw a 20% increase in demand for our services in October of 2025, compared to September of 2025,” Haynes said. “It’s not just due to the shutdown. It’s affordability, it’s everything else.”

All pantries are in need of donations of food and/or monetary contributions to help them buy food.

In Riverhead, St. John Parish Outreach will host a Thanksgiving meal on Saturday, Nov....