Volunteer Ambulance Corps Captain Pleads Guilty To Embezzlement

SLOATSBURG, NY — The former president of the Sloatsburg Volunteer Ambulance Corps has entered a guilty plea to felony charges he embezzled more than $70,000 from the organization.

Ramapo police began investigating misappropriation of funds at the ambulance corps in July 2020 and Matthew Gannon was arrested in August.

The 53-year-old admitted to transferring funds to his personal checking accounts in excess of $24,000, and admitted making payments directly from the Sloatsburg Volunteer Ambulance Corps bank accounts for unauthorized personal expenditures.

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Gannon told the court he paid The New York Jets more than $9,000 directly from the ambulance corps for tickets. He also admitted to paying All-State Insurance, Optimum, Salve Regina University, State Farm Insurance, Lucking Field Hockey, ACE Hardware and the University of Albany with the organization’s money.

“Today’s guilty plea is a direct result of a well-coordinated investigation, by a multitude of law enforcement agencies, from local, county and state levels,” Rockland County District Attorney Tom Walsh said. “We cannot allow persons who oversee the funds of such a vital community program, such as a volunteer ambulance corps, to feel they can steal without consequence.”

The plea agreement reached means the amount of time Gannon will serve behind bars will depend on the amount of restitution he makes to the town of Ramapo by his October 26 sentencing date. He could spend as little as a 6 months part-time in jail with intermittent releases if he makes full restitution or as much as 3 years in a state penitentiary if he fails to make complete restitution.