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Bergen Man Claims To Be NJ Transit CEO, Steals Agency Garb, Starts Bus Fire, Authorities Charge

A Bergen County man with the same name as NJ TRANSIT's top executive claimed to be him after he was caught stealing uniforms from the agency's garage in Fairview and igniting a fire on one of its buses, authorities charged.

LEFT: NJ TRANSIT President and CEO Kevin S. Corbett
RIGHT: Kevin J. Corbett, 42, of Hillsdale

LEFT: NJ TRANSIT President and CEO Kevin S. Corbett RIGHT: Kevin J. Corbett, 42, of Hillsdale

Photo Credit: GoogleMaps Street View / INSET: NJ TRANSIT, BCJ

Kevin J. Corbett, an unemployed 42-year-old Hillsdale resident, entered the facility off Anderson Avenue in street clothes before dawn Saturday, March 11, a complaint on file in Superior Court in Hackensack says.

He then stole an NJ Transit raincoat, an agency uniform shirt and a roll of receipt paper, it says.

Transit police responded to a call from employees who grabbed Corbett after finding him in the private wash rack garage shortly before 5:30 a.m., the complaint says.

He was wearing the NJT shirt -- with the name of an agency employee on the collar -- along with the raincoat, it says.

The employees told them he claimed he was the state public transportation agency's executive director, Kevin S. Corbett, 67, of Mendham, who is president and CEO of NJ TRANSIT.

The workers said they also found damage from a small fire that had been ignited on one of the buses.

"In the pile of ash there was a burned piece of a wrapper for a hand sanitizer wipe," the complaint says, adding that it "should be noted that" Corbett was carrying the same pack of wipes.

Corbett, who told the officers he was an NJ TRANSIT employee, was seen on security video footage getting off the bus shortly after 3 a.m., it says.

Transit police consulted the Bergen County Prosecutor's Office before charging Corbett with impersonating a public servant, burglary, theft, criminal mischief and trespassing. He remained held in the Bergen County Jail pending court action.

"NJ TRANSIT takes all matters of this nature seriously," said Jim Smith, the agency's director of media relations. "Violators will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law."

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