DA: Bookkeeper Stole from Great Neck, Mineola Employers

A bookkeeper stole nearly $700,000 from a longtime employer, and more than $10,000 from another employer by writing herself checks from company bank accounts, officials said.

Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice said Deborah Tangredi was arrested and arraigned Thursday on grand larceny charges.

Tangredi was employed by a Great Neck mortgage lender and realtor as an administrative assistant and bookkeeper for 17 years. Upon closing both businesses in November 2013, Tangredi’s employer began an audit going back to 2012. The employer obtained bank records and discovered that checks had been made from company bank accounts to pay Tangredi’s personal car loan, American Express, and Citi Card accounts, the DA’s office said.

To conceal the theft, Tangredi altered the check register to reflect the name of the payee as someone with whom her employer’s companies conducted business, according to the DA’s office.

After a subsequent investigation by the DA’s office stemming from 2009, it was discovered that Tangredi altered over 100 checks totaling $694,244.41. Investigators also found that Tangredi altered checks written from her employer’s business accounts to pay off her home equity line of credit, the DA’s office said.

The investigation triggered the discovery that Tangredi had deposited checks from her new employer, a law firm in Mineola. Tangredi stole a total of $10,387.33 from her new employer by forging signatures on checks, changing the name of the payee in the company’s ledger, and altering her employer’s bank statements, the DA’soffice said.

“Small business owners are the engine of Nassau’s economy, and should be commended for being job creators – not betrayed by their own employees,” Rice said. “Given the challenges of a tough economy, employers shouldn’t also have to worry that their next hire will steal company money.”

Tangredi is charged with second-degree grand larceny, two counts of third-degree grand larceny, three counts of second-degree criminal possession of a forged Instrument and three counts of first-degree falsifying business records.

“We’ve denied the charges as they currently stand,” Tangredi’s Mineola-based attorney, Robert Schalk, told Newsday “We’re waiting to review the evidence the district attorney has.”

Tangredi, who pleaded not guilty, was released on bail set at $25,000. Tangredi faces up to 15 years in prison if convicted of the top charge. She is due back in court on Nov. 5.