LI Group Home Worker Spends $30K Of Residents' Money: Prosecutors

ST. JAMES, NY — A North Carolina woman was indicted Friday on charges of stealing $30,000 from adults with disabilities at the group home where she worked in St. James, Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney said.

Desiree Etheridge, 48, reportedly used residents' ATM cards to withdraw cash for her personal use and eventually depleted their accounts, Tierney said.

Etheridge was indicted on six counts of third-degree grand larceny after stealing funds from the ATM cards of six residents in a group for adults with developmental disabilities who entrusted them to her for petty cash purposes, Tierney said.

Etheridge was also charged with scheme to defraud, a felony, Tierney said.

Tierney said an investigation revealed that from November, 2018 to June, 2021 Etheridge, stole the funds while she was working as a residential manager for Eden II, a residential facility in St. James. As residential manger, Etheridge had control and access to the six residents’ bank accounts and their debit cards; one of her responsibilities was to withdraw money to place in each resident's petty cash envelope so they could go on outings to eateries and local stores, Tierney said.

When the pandemic hit, there were no outings for the residents and that was when Etheridge depleted all of their bank accounts, Tierney said. During her employment at Eden II, she traveled to North Carolina and used the ATM cards there, as well, Tierney said. Between 2018 and 2022, about $30,000 was stolen in total, Tierney said.

Etheridge was indicted by a Suffolk County grand jury in June and was picked up in North Carolina on a warrant for the indictment, Tierney said.

Bail was set in North Carolina on the fugitive warrant and she voluntarily surrendered in Suffolk
County today to the fugitive squad; she was arraigned Friday before Judge Richard I. Horowitz, where she was placed on supervised released, Tierney said. As a condition of the release, she was ordered to surrender her passport, Tierney said.

She is due back in court on October 3 and is represented Christopher Brocato, Esq. "She adamantly denies it," Brocato told Patch. " At this point in the proceedings we haven't been provided with all the evidence that the People claim they have. They claim they have video from ATM machines, but it's hard for me to really say anything further until I see if that is the case."

Brocato added that Etheridge pleaded guilty and has denied taking any of the money from the accounts of the six individuals.

“This defendant allegedly took advantage of individuals who trusted her and instead of honoring that trust, she stole thousands of dollars from them for her own personal use,” said Tierney.

“Instead of keeping the best interests of the residents she was entrusted to care for, Desiree Etheridge allegedly lined her own pockets by stealing from these vulnerable adults,” Suffolk County Police Commissioner Rodney K. Harrison said.