Marie Baran sentenced to 5 years in LIRR disability fraud case
Former Long Island Railroad retirement board manager Marie
Former Long Island Railroad retirement board manager Marie Baran
of East Meadow arrives for sentencing at Manhattan Federal
Court, Friday, April, 4, 2014. Baran was sentenced to five years
in prison for her role in the LIRR disability fraud scam.
(Credit: Bryan Smith)  Marie Baran, a 66-year-old former federal
worker whose conviction for helping scores of Long Island Rail
Road retirees fill out phony disability applications made her a
symbol of a corrupted system, was sentenced to five years in
prison on Friday.  Prosecutors wanted Baran, of East Meadow, to
get more than 11 years for using inside knowledge as a former
head of the Railroad Retirement Board's Westbury office to earn
thousands advising ex-workers on how to fool the agency with
bogus disability claims.  The usually confident Baran sobbed,
held her lawyer's hand, and at times cradled her head in the
crook of her arm during th