Five more gone from RIPTA by week's end

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) - Five more terminations were expected at the Rhode Island Public Transit Authority by Friday, in connection with a security breach at a RIPTA facility in Providence.

Three supervisors were fired earlier this week, after an audit of the agency ordered by Governor Lincoln Chafee uncovered an incident in which a security camera was covered in a room where bus fares are counted.

On Wednesday, RIPTA Board Chairman Scott Avedisian announced that five more employees would lose their jobs, and another would be suspended, for their roles in the security breach.

"Suffice it to say that there were some ongoing issues with what we consider to be serious security problems at RIPTA, and there will be at least eight people who will be terminated and one suspended due to that," Avedisian said.

According to Avedisian, the supervisors who were fired were not directly involved in the security breach, but were overseeing the employees who were.

Avedisian said there was no confirmation that any money was stolen during the security breach.

On Thursday, Governor Lincoln Chafee explained why he called for the audit of RIPTA in the first place.

"RIPTA is one of those agencies we really want to put some focus on and see some improvements and I'm confident once we put focus on an entity, you'll see improvement," Governor Chafee said.

"I'm very confident that we're going to see improvements in RIPTA."