State worker accused of making $20,000 in calls to chat lines

PHOTOGRAPHER: The Associated Press

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A former state worker has been charged with calling telephone chat lines while on the job, racking up a $20,000 bill.

Inspector General Ellen Biben said 52-year-old Edward Reilly of Delmar spent more than 500 hours making 760 calls to services with names like VIP Sensual Chat, Quest Chat and Secret Encounters. She says that some of the calls were local, but most were to numbers in the Caribbean.

Reilly resigned in August from his $88,000-a-year job as an environmental engineer at the Department of Environmental Conservation headquarters in Albany.

He was arraigned today on a third-degree grand larceny charge and five other felony counts of offering a false instrument for filing.

A message left at a phone number listed for Reilly was not returned.