Man Collected $470K for Job He Didn’t Accept, Authorities Say

Oops. Somebody apparently got their wires crossed at a business telecommunications firm in an upscale area of northern New Jersey. After offering Anthony Armatys a job in 2002, which he declined, Avaya Inc. nonetheless set up a payroll account for him and reportedly direct-deposited nearly half a million dollars into his bank over the next five years.

Armatys was arrested yesterday by police in Palatine, Ill., a suburb of Chicago, on a theft by deception warrant issued by a judge in Somerset County, N.J., reports the Chicago Tribune. The alleged crime came to light last year, when auditors discovered the payments to Armatys' account by the Basking Ridge, N.J.-based company, the newspaper says.

A company representative declined to comment, according to an article in Courier News, a Bridgewater, N.J., newspaper.