PAGE A-8 The POST-STANDARD Sunday, May 25, 2014
from page one
Trust and
temptation
The case of Eric Varney isn’t the
grandest grand larceny alleged
in Central New York,
but it’s the most recent.
The $12,729 he is accused
of taking from Jordan-Elbridge
sporting events adds up
with other recent cases to total
over $3 million reported
3,209,610
missing from municipalities
$
and nonprofits.
Here’s a look at 11 recent grand larceny cases that made headlines and their outcomes.
In several cases that have not yet been adjudicated, charges are still pending against the defendants.
PERPETRATOR
OR SUSPECT
Kimberly Amidon, 45
Town court clerk,
Manlius
Margaret Bailey, 50
Village clerk,
Parish
Barbara Butler, 51
Village clerk,
Wampsville
Mary Cole, 66
Town court clerk,
Cicero
Stephen Donahue, 54
Manager of NYS Bowling
Association, Weedsport
Kathleen Kane, 47
Bursar’s office cashier,
Onondaga Community
College
John Osborn, 57,
and Mary Meyer, 55
He was chair of Manlius
United Methodist Church
finance committee; she
was treasurer of church
fund
Lawrence Recor, 64
Treasurer of Erwin
Library, Boonville
Bonnie Simson, 43
Manager of patient
services, St. Joseph’s
Hospital
Eric M. Varney, 44
School athletic director
and assistant principal,
Jordan-Elbridge
Sally Jo Widmer, 63
Teachers union
president, Auburn
AMOUNT
MISSING
TEMPTATION
$122,000 Bail money paid by
suspects or their
families and held by
the court
WHERE’D IT GO?
The DA says she failed to deposit the bail
money and used it for personal purposes
in 2011 and 2012
$117,000 Access to the village After 20 years as clerk and treasurer,
checkbook
she’s accused of writing 126 checks to
herself from 2009 to 2013; some went to
pay her husband’s taxes
BUSTED HOW?
QUOTE
OUTCOME
Part-time accountant noticed
discrepancies while preparing
for a routine state audit
“We are all stunned by it. You put your trust
in people and in their qualifications. I don’t
understand why people do this.” — Manlius Town
Supervisor Ed Theobald
She hopes to repay
substantial amount of money;
DA’s office seeking state
prison time; negotiations
continue
A retiree asking questions about
the village’s spending led to a
warning from the state in 2010
about lax controls; the alleged
thefts weren’t discovered until
three years later, after voters
dissolved the village
“She had keys to the cash register and went on
a spending spree, even going as far as doubling
her own salary without detection.” — State
Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli
Charges pending in Oswego
County Court after arrest
in March
Sentenced to six months in
jail, five years on probation,
and restitution payable with
$10,000 down and $250 a
month for five years
$24,292 Cash payments
She admitted making 10 cash withdrawals She confessed as village
from village accounts and writing 11 extra officials were conducting an
paychecks from 2009 to 2011; she fell into audit
debt through a Nigerian check-cashing
scam and casino gambling
“People should be able to rely on people like you.
… You took on a course of action that made the
entire community a victim.” — Madison County
Judge Biagio DiStefano
$27,000 Traffic fines paid to
She was accused of taking money paid
as traffic fines in 2009 and 2010 and
keeping it for her own use
“Because of the way local courts keep records,
Sentenced to five years on
it’s difficult to track the money. It shouldn’t be, but probation
it is.” — First Chief Assistant DA Rick Trunfio
made to the village
for taxes and fees
the town court
Internal audit raised questions
leading to external audit; she
resigned during investigation
$274,000 Bowling association He obtained a debit card in 2006 without Bowling association officials
members’ dues
informing the association, which he
managed for 23 years, and drained its
account while gambling at Turning Stone
Resort and Casino
“You knew what you were doing was wrong, and
became suspicious when
you just kept doing it until you got caught.”
Donahue refused to let them see — Oneida County Judge Michael Dwyer
complete bank records
Pleaded guilty to seconddegree grand larceny,
sentenced to 3 to 9 years in
state prison
$200,000 Cash payments
After divorce, she fell behind paying bills;
charged in theft of $6,527 in 2013; the DA
believes the total since 2003 was closer
to $200,000
OCC noticed financial
irregularities
“While this is an isolated incident, we are deeply
disappointed in the apparent actions of this
individual ….” — Interim OCC President Meg
O’Connell
Sentenced to two years in
jail, released on parole after
six months, ordered to repay
$200,000 to OCC, school’s
insurance company and state
$444,589 Money left to the
Meyer is accused of writing unauthorized
checks to herself, to her husband and
to his company, Ashton Holdings LLC,
of Fulton, from 2008 to 2012; both are
charged with grand larceny
Unexplained deficits and a utility
cutoff notice aroused suspicion;
so did Osborn’s failure to repay
a loan to a parishioner
“The concept of having someone do this to us is
very, very painful. Especially if it’s our leader, who
told us we should be trusting him.”
— Andy Hardman, chair of staff-parish relations
committee
Scheduled to go to trial
June 23
$280,000 Most of the money
He wrote dozens of unauthorized checks
from the library’s account to make payroll
at his struggling accounting business
from 2005 to 2008
Library’s board of directors
suspected him and fired him;
nine-month investigation led
to charges
“With all these cases … each and every time I
hope that it’s going to send a message out there,
and I just don’t see any decrease in the number
of larceny cases … I wish people would learn the
lesson.” — Judge Michael Dwyer
Sentenced in 2010 to
3 to 9 years in prison
After she resigned in 2011,
hospital officials confronted her
about the missing money
“This was an isolated incident and we are
saddened that this employee appears to have
failed to live up to our values of stewardship and
integrity.” — Hospital spokeswoman Kerri Ganci
Sentenced to prison for
a year and a day; then,
restitution payments of
at least $250 a month
School employees found
something amiss in the “student
admissions account” on April 24
and notified state police; the next
day, Varney repaid the money
and resigned; state police did not
charge him with a crime
“We did everything we were supposed to do. What
the state police do after we report it is up to them.
They didn’t notify the DA’s office when we notified
them. It’s not my place to leapfrog the state police
and go to the district attorney.” — J-E Superintendent James Froio
The DA learned of the case on
May 8; within a week, Varney
was charged with third-degree
grand larceny
Union officials who attended
a financial workshop asked
Widmer about her sole control
of union finances; the theft
was discovered in an audit
conducted shortly after
Widmer’s death in 2012
(see Outcome)
“People interviewed say the same things — they
had no reason to suspect her. She did a great job
as union president, she came from money, she
had a good job, a good pension, she lived in a
family house that had been given to her. She had
no children.” — Auburn police detective Jeffery
Mead
Widmer committed suicide
with a lethal combination of
rum, opiates and painkillers
on Nov. 7, 2012
made by students
for tuition
church in wills and
raised by children
to help starving
families
came from a large
gift to the library
$900,000 Cash payments
She took cash from envelopes and
made by patients for falsified records to support an addiction
phones and cable
to painkillers from 2000 to 2011
TV service
$12,729 Ticket proceeds from Varney was supposed to hand gate
football, basketball
receipts from athletic events to another
and volleyball games school employee, but told that person,
“Hey, don’t worry about it, I got it,” according to Superintendent James Froio
$808,000 Union dues
She lost $350,000 to slots and table
games at Turning Stone Casino; the
remainder went to travel, clothing,
groceries, gasoline, meals and cash from
2006 to 2012
Information compiled by Mark Libbon from staff reports in The Post-Standard’s archives