BY ADRIANA HERNANDEZ
Daily Post Staff Writer
A former train station manager has been sentenced today (June 9) for helping a former Caltrain executive embezzle public funds and for building secret apartments in the Burlingame and Millbrae train stations, a prosecutor said.
Seth Worden, 66, of Oceanside, was sentenced to a year of probation and two months in county jail. He also needs to pay $8,114.01 restitution to the railroad, said District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe.
Worden, who was a station manager for TASI, the company contracted to run the train line, took a plea deal on Jan. 21, Wagstaffe said. As part of the deal, Worden testified against Joseph Vincent Navarro, 61, of Newtown, Penn., previously Caltrain’s deputy director of operations, on April 29.
From 2019 to 2020, Worden helped Navarro to construct small apartments in Burlingame and Millbrae train stations, Wagstaffe said. Navarro turned a section of the Burlingame train station into an apartment with a bedroom, gym and living room, Wagstaffe said.
Worden hired contractor James Cooney for Navarro to remodel an unused office in the historic Burlingame train station to add a kitchen, shower, heating, plumbing and security camera, Wagstaffe said.
All the invoices were kept below a $3,000 threshold, so Worden’s expenditures didn’t have to be approved by anyone else at TASI or Caltrain.
In 2019-2020, Worden tried the same scheme and attempted to remodel part of the Milbrae station for his own use, but was caught by Caltrain employees in 2020, Wagstaffe said.
Navarro lived at the Burlingame train station until an anonymous tipster called Caltrain in 2022, Wagstaffe said. Around $50,000 of Caltrain’s money, which taxpayers and train tickets fund, was spent on the two projects – $8,000 for the Milbrae “renovations” and $42,000 for Burlingame, Wagstaffe said.
Navarro faces up to four years in prison when he is sentenced on Wednesday, but the judge could also choose to give him probation, Wagstaffe said. Narrovo was convicted at trial on April 30.
This is an outrage! Anyone who can build two dwelling units for $50K should be in charge of cranking out affordable housing on the Peninsula, not go to jail.
Why be so tough on these two guys. For years our politicians have bloviated about building transit oriented affordable housing. These defendants were making that happen. Let’s turn all the train stations into housing!