A former Rikers Island correction officer from Ronkonkoma charged for lying about injuries sustained in use-of-force incidents,\u00a0and collecting more than $200,000\u00a0in workers’ compensation, must return the money under the terms of\u00a0his guilty plea, city and state officials announced.<\/p>\n
Jovanny Concepcion, 34, pleaded guilty Monday before U.S. District Court Judge Lewis J. Liman in the Southern District of New York to making a false statement related to healthcare matters, according to a news release from the New York City Department of Investigation<\/a>, the city\u2019s watchdog agency, which\u00a0has been investigating alleged phony\u00a0workers’ compensation claims filed by\u00a0correction\u00a0department employees.<\/p>\n Concepcion is at least the second\u00a0former officer with the New York City Department of Correction<\/a> from Long Island\u00a0since March to plead guilty to making false statements in order to pocket workers’ compensation funds. On March 17, Todd Faustin, 43, of Coram, pleaded guilty before Liman\u00a0to the charge in relation to healthcare matters, according to a separate investigation department news release.<\/p>\n Concepcion worked as a city correction officer\u00a0for nearly four years, beginning in June 2017. During his tenure Concepcion said\u00a0“he was injured while on duty at Rikers Island during incidents with incarcerated individuals requiring the use of force,” the release said. He subsequently made false statements to the New York State Workers\u00a0Compensation Board<\/a>, as well as its own physicians and “independent medical examiners,” the release said.<\/p>\n He received “at least $232,427 in benefits to which he was not entitled,” city investigators said.<\/p>\n As part of his guilty plea, Concepcion agreed to pay $232,427 in forfeiture and restitution, the release said. He will return to court for sentencing on Sept. 10.<\/p>\n Lauriano Guzman, the defense attorney representing\u00a0Concepcion, declined to comment when reached by telephone Monday afternoon.<\/p>\n A spokesperson for the city investigation\u00a0department declined to comment when asked whether Concepcion would receive any jail time at his sentencing.<\/p>\n Faustin\u00a0agreed to pay $370,336.79 in restitution and forfeiture. He’d worked as a\u00a0correction officer, including\u00a0at Rikers,\u00a0from\u00a0December 2011 until resigning\u00a0the day he pleaded guilty.<\/p>\n Concepcion earned $60,335 annually at the time of his April 2021 resignation, according to the release. Faustin earned $109,350 a year by his March resignation.<\/p>\n Investigations into both men began after multiple city agencies sounded alarms regarding an increase in workers comp benefits to correction department employees.\u00a0In conjunction with the investigations, the New York City\u00a0watchdog agency found the city paid more than $340 million in workers’ compensation benefits to correction department employees in 2024, according to a May 2025 report<\/a>. That same year, the city paid a combined $225 million to all other mayoral agencies.<\/p>\n The watchdog agency issued a pair of recommendations each to the city\u2019s correction and law departments to prevent more fraudulent workers comp claims, according to the May 2025 report.<\/p>\n