Taxpayers got taken for a ride by these LIRR fraudsters.

Three dozen Long Island Rail Road workers used a fake ID scheme to ditch work but still get paid  — with one bozo boasting he was drinking margaritas poolside while on the clock, a new report found.

The scathing report from the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s watchdog found “widespread culture of fraud and time abuse” in the car maintenance division at the LIRR’s Ronkonkoma, Richmond Hill and Manhattan West Side facilities.

“These employees, including supervisors who should have been enforcing the rules, stole countless hours of paid time,” said MTA Inspector General Daniel Cort.

“The investigation revealed a widespread lack of ethics and contempt for the timekeeping regulations in these LIRR facilities.”

The investigation didn’t specify the amount of work time stolen, but the reports suggest workers skipped out on potentially thousands of hours of work — and used the scheme to milk overtime.

Stunningly, some employees were accused of possessing machines to make the fake cards, and some of the cloned cards were actually created in a locker room and inside personal cars on LIRR property.

Workers sold the coveted cloned cards — many of which were stashed in unlocked lockers and even a refrigerator on LIRR property — for as much as $40.00, the report said. One employee performed work on another’s vehicle in exchange for a fake swipe card, according to the IG.

Some of the identified abusers have amassed the highest OT in the LIRR and the entire MTA in recent years, records show — including gang foremen Craig Murray and Leonard Espinosa, the Empire Center reported — and car repair workers Martina Eugene and Junior Lambert, according to Newsday.

The office of the IG launched its investigation in October 2022 after receiving a complaint that Ronkonkoma gang foreman, called Gang Foreman #1 in the report, possessed a duplicate ID card and was not on the property when he was swiped in by another gang foreman, or supervisor.

Records obtained by The Post reveal John Cerulli is Gang Foreman #1. He had been implicated in prior MTA IG reports over timekeeping abuses, and he resigned while disciplinary action was pending, the report said.

“Gang Foreman 1 [Cerulli] came into work on a weekend overtime shift wearing a rash guard/swim shirt, swim shorts, and flip flops, and announced to the [workers], ‘Don’t bother looking for me. I’ll be next to my pool with a margarita,'” a fellow supervisor told the IG, according to documents.

“If you need me for something, call me,’” Cerulli is quoted saying.

Cerulli would swipe in, give out the lineup, and leave work, the report said.

Cerulli could not be reached for comment.

At the Richmond Hill location, 18 employees, including two gang foremen, were found to be stealing time from the public entity.

An employee there told the IG that he was instructed to make cloned cards and was threatened with lost overtime shifts if he refused.

One Richmond Hill employee who left work early during his shift went to the gym a staggering 198 times while still on the clock, the report said.

Another Richmond Hill worker interviewed by the IG’s office said there was a time when another employee “would not even show up to work.”.

At the Manhattan West Side location, another five workers were found to be stealing time.

One Richmond Hill gang foreman, Craig Murray, said he was unaware he was implicated in the probe. He’s been on sick leave following surgery but faces disciplinary action upon return.

“I never had a swipe card. I don’t know what’s going on,” Murray told The Post Thursday.

“It’s the first I’m hearing [of the investigation],” Murray said, though he admitted to “hearing rumors” about the use of fake swipe cards.

In 2021, the Post wrote a series of stories about OT fraud at the LIRR, which resulted in a federal indictments and “OT King” Thomas Caputo getting sentenced to eight months in prison after copping to fraud theft that netted him thousands of dollars.

Meanwhile, MTA’s Metro-North division has come under fire over claims workers filed false safety reports.

Government watchdogs said the latest scam is par for the course at the MTA, particularly its LIRR division.

“It’s just the tip of the iceberg,” said Ken Girardin, a fellow at the Manhattan Institute..

LIRR president Rob Free slammed the fake card time theft scheme as “nothing short of corrupt.”

“Those active employees who were participants in this scheme — including supervisors responsible for making sure all employees play by the rules — faced severe punishment,” Free said.

A dozen employees who retired or resigned were made to forfeit hundreds of thousands of dollars, he said, while others were suspended up to nine months without pay.

“I will not allow a few unscrupulous employees to damage the reputation of thousands of hard-working LIRR colleagues. Through enhanced technology and aggressive oversight, we are ensuring that everyone is fully accountable for reporting only time actually worked.”

The LIRR said it reinstated biometric finger scanning requirements to help prevent fraudulent ID swipes to clock in and out of work, a procedure that was suspended during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The findings were referred to three district attorneys’ offices but no charges have been filed yet.

Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney said there was insufficient evidence to prosecute the slackers due to the “lack of controls at the MTA facility, e.g., no cameras on the employee entrance-exit, no biometric checks, and inadequate records.”