JULY 12, 2000
D.A. BROWN: FORMER TREASURER OF A FUND MAINTAINED BY MEMBERS OF THE WOODHAVEN SENIOR CENTER SENTENCED TO REPAY $26,000 STOLEN FROM FUND
Queens District Attorney Richard A. Brown announced today that former treasurer of Friends of Woodhaven Senior Center was sentenced today and ordered to repay $26,000 she stole from the Center’s entertainment fund.
District Attorney Brown said, "These monies were raised by and belonged to the members of the Woodhaven Senior Center. The monies were intended to fund trips, dances and other activities for the Center’s members, not for the defendant’s personal use. Today’s sentence means that the members of the Center will eventually be made whole."
District Attorney Brown identified the defendant as Julia Saunders, 76, of 88-29 78th Street, Woodhaven. She pleaded guilty to petit larceny on May 10, 2000 before Acting Supreme Court Justice Jeffrey Lebowitz who sentenced her to make a partial payment of $5000 today and an additional $21,560 to be paid as a result of a civil judgment entered against her property when it is sold.
According to the District Attorney, the defendant was the treasurer of the Friends of the Woodhaven Senior Center, which is located at 87-04 88th Avenue in Woodhaven, for 20 years. In January 1999, the defendant asked the Center’s manager for a loan from the Fund’s bank account, which consisted of monies raised by the seniors for special recreational purposes, and was refused. Nevertheless, between February 15, 1999 and January 11, 2000 the defendant who was authorized as treasurer to sign checks on behalf of the Fund, made one cash withdrawal of $15,000 and wrote several checks on the bank account for $11,576 and used the monies to help her grandson who was having business difficulties.
Assistant District Attorneys Dianna Megias and Lourdes Ventura of the Economic Crimes Bureau, under the supervision of Assistant District Attorneys Diane Peress and John R. Mechmann under the overall supervision of Bureau Chief Brian J. Mich, are in charge of the case.