LIRR disability fraud suspect makes bail

AN OFFICE MANAGER at the center of a massive Long Island Rail Road disability fraud was released on bail yesterday over the objections of prosecutors.

Maria Rusin, 55, worked for one of the doctors charged in an estimated $ 1 billion scam.

"She was at the core of the fraud," Assistant U.S. Attorney Justin Weddle told a Manhattan federal magistrate. He argued that she was likely to flee the country because she owned property her husband's native country, Croatia, and in her native country, Uruguay. Her lawyer said it was investment property.

Rusin first appeared in court on Thursday along with seven LIRR employees and her boss, Dr. Peter Ajemien, but her hearing was delayed when she fell ill.

Rusin and Peter Lesniewski, 60, a Rockville Centre orthopedist also arraigned yesterday on charges stemming from the scam, were both released on $ 750,000 bail.

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