Bay Area rail workers accused of building condos at train stations | Private Equity Weekly

Two Bay Area railroad workers face felony charges for allegedly building clandestine apartments at two train stations.

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It gives a whole new meaning to the term “railway-style apartments.”

Two Bay Area railroad workers face felony charges for allegedly building clandestine apartments at two train stations.

according to san jose mercury, San Mateo prosecutors accuse the two railroad workers of secretly converting two offices at the Burlingame and Millbrae stations south of San Francisco into apartments. Former Caltrain deputy director Joseph Navarro and contractor Seth Andrew Worden face felony charges of misuse of public funds and could each receive up to four years in prison if convicted imprisonment.

Worden is a 61-year-old resident of San Diego County. He was reportedly arraigned on March 27 and pleaded not guilty. Navara, a 66-year-old former Bay Area resident now living in Pennsylvania, is scheduled to stand trial on April 29. Worden’s attorney reportedly declined to comment on the case. Mercury News.

Transit workers discovered the Millbrae Apartments in 2020, but the Burlingame Station stash wasn’t discovered until 2022 when officials received an anonymous tip. Both men were fired from Caltrain when their apartment was discovered, Worden was fired when the Millbrae apartment was discovered, and Navarro was fired when the Burlingame hideout was discovered.

According to prosecutors, Navarro and Worden allegedly conspired to approve $42,000 in public construction funds to convert two office spaces into apartments. The pair allegedly ensured that invoices did not exceed $3,000, a threshold that required further approval from Caltrain.

The criminal complaint also accuses Worden of using $8,000 in taxpayer funds to build himself a small apartment at Millbrae Station.

The would-be developers have gained some admiration in pro-housing circles online for their ability to build apartments cheaply in a state with extremely high construction costs.

“Hire that guy to build affordable housing,” East Palo Alto recruiter Mark Dinan wrote on X. “$42,000 for an apartment!”