DRPA Official Caught With E-ZPass Quits
CAMDEN, N.J. - Delaware River Port Authority Safety Director Michael Joyce is resigning from his highly paid job, about a week after Fox 29 learned Joyce gave an E-ZPass to his daughter.
Joyce resigned in an e-mail to DRPA Chief Executive Officer John J. Matheussen on Tuesday afternoon.
On July 22, news broke that Joyce was caught taking an E-ZPass transponder from another DRPA political appointee and giving it to his daughter so she wouldn't have to pay the toll every time she crossed the bridges going to college since 2008.
Joyce wasn't arrested or fired but was told to pay back his daughter's tolls, $600 worth, and he lost three days' pay.
But the fallout over the case has made headlines in the past week.
Joyce wasn't arrested or fired but was told to pay back his daughter's tolls, $600 worth, and he lost three days' pay..
The discipline was handed down by the controversial DRPA Chief Executive Officer John J. Matheussen, whose contract was just temporarily extended while a decision is made about what to do with his future.
Joyce was getting paid $180,000 plus has a $9,000 cash bonus to pay for his car allowance and 100 free bridge crossings a year for himself. He was also the top law enforcement official for the authority.
Joyce took the E-ZPass transponder of John A. Lawless, who the people of Montgomery County will remember was a former state representative for 12 years before landing his plumb appointment to the DRPA in 2004, two years after his lieutenant governor bid failed.
Lawless held his secretary job for six years until last April when suddenly (and for some still unknown reason) he was escorted by security officers from the DRPA offices in Camden.
Despite that, Lawless is still getting paid his $124,000 salary even though he's not working for the DRPA anymore.
Philadelphia Electrical Workers Union Leader John Dougherty is another DRPA board member. He had complained about the misuse of Lawless' DRPA E-ZPass transponder, which in part led to the revelations about Joyce.