Pennies Add Up To Over $150,000 In Charity Embezzlement

by Gary Snyder    

Yonkers (NY) public libraries collected fines by the pennies---10 cents for most books, 50 cents for new seven-day ones. A well-liked longtime employee was responsible for taking the money collected by the branches. 

For seven years, she would regularly alter the collection paperwork to reflect a lower amount of fees and pocket the difference after taking money out of the library deposit bag and she made off with $163,582. Only after a new business manager was hired were the thefts discovered. The library had reviewed its procedures and made sure more people were involved with monitoring accounting issues.

She needed the money because she had a gambling addiction — including gambling in Atlantic City and playing the lottery.  She pleaded guilty to felony charges of grand larceny and filing false tax returns and was sentenced six months in the Westchester County Jail and the rest of the next five years on probation. She will also have to make restitution for the amount of the theft. Prosecutors had sought a state prison sentence, which would have meant at least a year in prison. (link)

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