Bookkeeper Stole Thousands From Nassau Church: District Attorney

A Merrick woman was arrested on Tuesday after prosecutors say she spent years embezzling more than $180,000 from St. Mary's church in Roslyn Harbor.

Therese Iuzzolino, 45, was charged with second-degree grand larceny and four counts of first-degree falsifying business records. She is due back in court on Sept. 11. If convicted of the top charge, she faces up to 15 years in prison.

“St. Mary’s parish is a pillar of the Roslyn Harbor community, and this defendant’s alleged selfish actions betrayed the trust placed in her as the church’s bookkeeper,” said Nassau County District Attorney Madeline Singas. “Stealing from churches compromises the good work they do to serve our communities, and I’m grateful to the leaders at St. Mary’s for their cooperation throughout our investigation.”

Singas said that from December 2011 to April 2017, Iuzzolino allegedly stole $183,203.64 from St. Mary’s Church in Roslyn Harbor by making online payments from the church’s bank account for various personal credit cards, as well as by creating several electronic check vouchers.

Iuzzolino was the part-time bookkeeper for the church, and was responsible for preparing QuickBooks checks, maintaining the QuickBooks ledger, reviewing invoices and reconciling bank statements.

To hide her actions, Singas said that Iuzzolino falsified various church records by deleting deposit and withdrawal entries. The theft was discovered in May 2017 after the bank called the church regarding a suspicious $5,000 check drawn on a church account. Iuzzolino was later fired.

Iuzzolino allegedly spent the money, some of which came from the church’s collections from parishioners, on payments to a jeweler and an automobile dealer, as well as toy stores, gun shops, dental expenses, computers, fast food and entertainment, Singas said.

Photo courtesy Nassau County District Attorney's Office