A Huntington Station woman was sentenced Tuesday after her conviction for stealing mroe than $143,000 from a company that provides services to children with developmental delays.
Patricia Sales, who worked as finance director of All About Kids, deposited checks from then employer, All About Kids, into her personal bank account, the Nassau County District Attorney’s Office said.
She pleaded guilty before Judge Fran Ricigliano on Nov.17 to Grand Larceny in the Third Degree (a C felony).
Sales was sentenced to 364 days in jail.
“After discovering Sales had failed to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars in payroll taxes to the IRS as All About Kids’ director of finance, further investigation revealed the defendant used the company coffers as a personal bank account, issuing herself checks and stealing tens of thousands of dollars in company funds,” DA Anne T. Donnelly said. “Individuals who abuse their authority for personal gain will be caught and held accountable for their actions.”
As part of her duties at All About Kids, the defendant had access to the company’s payroll and accounting system for generating checks, as well as a stamp with the owner’s signature.
In February 2020, employees were looking in Sales’ office for copies of bank statements when they discovered several mailed notices from the Internal Revenue Service. The notices indicated that the company had failed to pay payroll taxes to the IRS since at least June 2019. According to the documents, All About Kids owed more than $700,000 in past due taxes and $140,000 in penalties to the IRS. The defendant was terminated from her job on Feb. 7, 2020.
After an extensive review of checks, bank statements and accounting systems, the company discovered that Sales had created unauthorized checks made out to herself in their accounting system. After discovering the theft, the company notified the Nassau County District Attorney’s Office. In total, the defendant stole $143,680 from All About Kids.
The case was prosecuted by Senior Assistant District Attorney Erica Zimmerman of the Financial Crimes Bureau. Sales is represented by Gregory Kalmar.