ALBANY, N.Y. – A New Jersey woman and a Colombian man have been indicted for allegedly orchestrating a large-scale fraud scheme that claimed hundreds of thousands of dollars in fake transportation reimbursements meant to serve elderly and disabled riders, federal prosecutors announced Wednesday.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of New York, Jael Watts, 44, of Bridgeton, New Jersey, and Luis Pino-Copete, 41, of Bogotá, Colombia, operated a nonprofit called Pearl Transit Corporation, which purported to provide transit services for seniors and disabled individuals under the Federal Transit Administration’s Section 5310 program. Prosecutors say the company never employed a single driver or transported any passengers.
Between September 2024 and July 2025, Watts and Pino-Copete allegedly submitted falsified vouchers and supporting documents to the New York State Department of Transportation, seeking reimbursement for nonexistent services. The pair are accused of fabricating operational expenses and trip records to obtain hundreds of thousands of dollars in federal transportation funds.
Watts faces ten counts of wire fraud, one count of aggravated identity theft, and a wire fraud conspiracy charge shared with Pino-Copete. The indictment also alleges that in March 2022, Watts used the name of an attorney on an FTA grant application without consent to bolster her company’s credibility.
Acting U.S. Attorney John A. Sarcone III said the alleged crimes exploited programs meant to help vulnerable citizens. “These funds were meant to help transport some of our most vulnerable—the elderly and disabled,” Sarcone said. “These charges show that these crimes will only transport you to prison.”
DOT-OIG Special Agent in Charge Brian C. Gallagher called the case an example of “the depth of the alleged fraud,” adding that his office remains committed to protecting taxpayer funds and maintaining the integrity of federal transportation programs.
New York State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli said investigators from his office detected the fraud before any payments were made, preventing losses of more than $1 million. “Watts and Pino-Copete allegedly conspired to scam the State of New York out of more than $1 million meant to transport deserving New Yorkers for needed care and services,” DiNapoli said.
Watts, who was arrested in July 2025 and ordered detained pending trial, was previously indicted in October on ten counts of wire fraud. Pino-Copete was arrested in December 2025 in New Jersey and later arraigned in Albany on the superseding indictment.
If convicted, Pino-Copete faces up to 20 years in prison, while Watts faces a mandatory minimum of two years and up to 20 years. Sentences will be determined by a federal judge under the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines.
Federal prosecutors charged a New Jersey woman and a Colombian man with defrauding a federal transportation program of more than $1 million through fake reimbursement claims for services never provided.
