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WHITE PLAINS---Some for you, some for me was apparently the motto of a case manager for the Westchester Department of Social Services who has admitted to stealing over $32,000 in funds that he was in charge of disbursing for housing assistance.
Norman Garcia, 40, of Manhattan has pleaded guilty to third degree grand larceny and faces up to seven years in state prison when sentenced. Edgardo Sierra, 39, of New Britain, Conn, an accomplice, has also pleaded guilty.
Prosecutors said that when Garcia worked at the Yonker's office of DSS during the last seven months of 2004, he would draft checks from the social services agency to phony landlords, one of whom was Sierra. Sierra and another defendant in the case, Maria Rodriguez, 63, or Yonkers, split the proceeds with Garcia, prosecutors said.
After Garcia was hired by the Westchester County DSS in 1997, he was arrested in New York City for stealing over $12,000 in cash and food stamps from 1995 to 1997. Despite being convicted of felony third degree grand larceny in 1999 and sentenced to five years probation, he continued working for Westchester County.
Only after he was arrested last year and charged with stealing from the Westchester County DSS was he suspended and will now be terminated as a result of his latest conviction.
Garcia and Sierra will be sentenced on March 1. In the deal reached in exchange for guilty pleas, Garcia will be sentenced to two to four years in state prison and Sierra will receive five years of probation. Rodriguez has also been charged with third degree grand larceny. Her case is pending.
1-14-06
© 2005 North
Country Gazette
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