Ex-MTA Bus Driver Investigated For Allegedly Violating Workers' Compensation
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) – The owner of the Red Carpet Makeup Mobile in Harlem created quite the buzz when its owner, Nneka Ingram, set up shop in 2012. Now, she's in the spotlight again after being arrested and charged with grand larceny and fraud-related charges for allegedly violating workers' compensation.
The official complaint says Ingram received about $84,000 in disability payments when she filed for disability in 2011.
She claimed she suffered from post-traumatic stress after she was allegedly spit on and threatened by a passenger while she worked as an Metropolitan Transportation Authority bus driver.
As CBS 2 reported, according to the complaint, disability payments were made from 2011 to 2013 under the premise Ingram was injured and not working in any capacity. However, her truck, the complaint says, had been set up in Harlem.
"I used to have a store in the Bronx. It failed within one year, the rents are just too high," Ingram told CBS 2 back in 2012, when asked about her business on wheels, Celebrities Mobile Boutique.
As CBS 2's Christine Sloan reported in 2012, Ingram was identified as a former MTA bus driver and spent $20,000 on the bling and makeup mobile.
Investigators say they have their own surveillance footage of Ingram running the truck along with social media activity showing a less-than-despondent woman's posts that read:
"Feeling stronger than ever!!!!"
"The face of someone who just beat $286 in parking tickets what???????"
"That face that I make when I don't want to work out at 5;30 in the am"--- feeling tired at Planet Fitness-----
"Today is my BIG day. I'm headed to the slammer. MTA thinks that this will destroy me, but GOD has bigger plans/"
Investigators say Ingram filled out and signed daily forms during visits to a mandated psychiatrist in 2012, stating she had not worked in any capacity and had not performed any physical activities.
"You know you already have an income and this is what happens when you do that," one person told CBS 2.
"I think she was scamming and if she got caught she should have to pay!" another said.
As Smith reported, a child answered the door when CBS 2 stopped by her Bronx apartment to speak with her, and said she was out working.
No one Smith spoke with has seen her business set up anywhere in Harlem.
Ingram is due back in court next month and faces a possible 15 years in prison on the grand larceny charge.
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