Bookkeeper Pleads Guilty to Stealing $17K From Mineola Employer: DA

A Floral Park woman is expected to be sentenced to one year in prison for stealing $467,000 from employers in Great Neck and Mineola by writing herself checks from company bank accounts from 2009 and 2014, Acting Nassau County District Attorney Madeline Singas said.

Deborah Tangredi, 53, pleaded guilty Tuesday to second degree grand larceny and two counts of third degree grand larceny.

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 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 $450,000.

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 $17,000 from the law firm 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’s office said.

Back in October 2014, Tangredi pleaded not guilty to stealing nearly $710,000 from her employers.

“Small businesses are an integral part of our local economy and should never have to worry about their staffers lining their pockets with company money,” Singas said in a press release.

Tangredi is due back in court on Feb. 24

Image via NCDA