News: Grand Larceny Cases on Long Island
(Long Island, N.Y.) A retired Glen Clove Fire Department dispatcher was sentenced to 1-3 years in prison for stealing roughly $200,000 from the department fund drive. The sixty-eight-year-old man has since relocated to Henderson, North Carolina. Reports say he spent the money on model train equipment and gourmet cigars.
The department didn’t find out about the theft until after the former dispatcher had retired in 2009. He pleaded guilty in January to grand larceny in the second degree, which was the top count charge in a 108 count indictment. The original charges included criminal possession of a forged instrument in the second degree and three misdemeanors of official misconduct. He was also slapped with a civil judgment of $196,071.20 for stealing from the fund which was sponsored solely by volunteer donations.
He was arrested by DA investigators after serving thirty-four years as a dispatcher and forty-four years as a volunteer for the Fire Department. He served twenty years as the chairman for the fire department’s fund drive, and allegedly began writing over three-hundred checks to himself and his personal credit card accounts. While this was executed over a six-year period, he’s also accused of forging over a hundred checks with the treasurer’s signature.
Originally, he pleaded not guilty to the charges in September of last year at the Nassau County Court and faced up to fifteen years in prison for his crimes. After his retirement, the department chief informed the Glen Clove mayor of his suspicions. The mayor went on to hire an auditor to evaluate the funds, and eventually contacted the District Attorney with the information. The crimes occurred between May of 2003 and March of 2009, and he was held on $50,000 bond/$10,000 cash bail.
Reports have stated that the firefighters who knew the former dispatcher claimed to be shocked at the charges. They say that the crimes in this case are inconceivable because the fire department considers itself a brotherhood. Those directly affected by the theft are the volunteers who have donated to the fund as well as the firefighters who have volunteered their time and welfare to keeping the community safe.
In a separate case a forty-seven-year-old former bookkeeper from Patchogue was sentenced on Wednesday to 3-9 years in prison for stealing $664,000 from her former employer. The company was called Combined Container and was based out of Wyandanch. The woman pleaded guilty to grand larceny in November of last year at a Suffolk County Court.
The allegations against the woman involved the period from March 2009 to April of 2010 when she put her husband on the payroll. Her husband, now deceased, was never an employee for Combined Container. She was arrested in April of last year and has been ordered to pay restitution to her former employer in addition to her sentence.
