SUFFOLK COUNTY---Eight former or current members of fire districts, fire departments, and an ambulance company in Suffolk County have been arrested on charges of spending thousands of dollars of taxpayer money for their personal expenses or benefit.

The largest theft of public funds tabulated thus far by the Governmental Corruption Bureau of the Suffolk County district attorney's office is money stolen by the former secretary-treasurer of the Montauk Fire District. The defendant, Terri Gaines, 55, of 24 Middle Highway in East Hampton, is believed to have paid approximately $509,000 in personal expenses with Montauk fire district funds.

"The forensic audit by our office is ongoing," DA Thomas Spota said, "but thus far we have conclusive evidence that Ms. Gaines as the chief fiscal officer of the district, with sole control of the treasury, used the power of her office to pay her personal expenses from 1999 through 2005." In 2005, the Montauk fire district budget was $1.65 million dollars.

The DA said Ms. Gaines repeatedly wrote fire district checks payable to herself, or directly to her credit card companies, to pay balances she owed to MasterCard, Visa and American Express. District Attorney Spota said the defendant's credit card records specify a spending pattern listing charges incurred by Ms. Gaines at casinos in Connecticut, Las Vegas and New Orleans, bills from local eateries and out-of-state and even overseas restaurants, hotels, women's retail and catalog clothing outlets, beauty salons, appliance stores and expenses she incurred for tickets to entertainment events.

Records detailing expenses incurred by Ms Gaines use in 2003, 2004 and 2005 of the fire district's American Express card included over $4,300 of expenses borne by taxpayers for her purchase of Broadway tickets, bills incurred in New York City retail stores, and expense she incurred at a women's clothier in Uncasville, Connecticut at the Mohegan Sun gambling casino.

Evidence found by district attorney auditors illustrated "a pattern of thievery" described by the district attorney as "simple and straightforward". "To date,' said DA Spota, "we estimate the defendant wrote $112,000 dollars worth of checks, drawn on the Montauk Fire District account, made payable to Terri Gaines and endorsed by Terri Gaines". The district attorney said corruption bureau prosecutors have yet to find "a policy manual or other documentation" that would have required, "at a minimum, an independent countersignature from another district official" that would have prevented the defendant from writing checks payable to herself.

Gaines was arraigned Tuesday on a charge of grand larceny in the second degree before East Hampton Town Justice Lisa Rana. Bail is set at $10,000 cash. Second-degree grand larceny is a "C" felony punishable by a maximum five to 15 years behind bars.

District Attorney Spota said subpoenas executed earlier this month at the Montauk Highway office of the East Moriches Community Ambulance and at the home of company president Alan Crane resulted in the seizure of documents and other evidence that illustrates "a simple scam based on the defendant's editing of receipts to mask his spending on entertainment, food and holiday gifts".

The evidence gathered by detectives outlines the defendant's repeated submission of altered receipts to receive reimbursement for thousands of dollars worth of toys, food, candy, liquor, and clothing.

Some receipts recovered from the EMCA office and Crane's home compared side-by-side show the usage of correction fluid to eliminate descriptions of the articles and foodstuffs purchased by the defendant, leaving only the prices legible on the receipts. The district attorney cited an altered receipt for $20.99 from Holbrook Liquors dated December 20, 2006 with the word "Stolichnaya" whited-out and submitted by Crane for reimbursement.

Included in the documents seized March 1 by detectives are receipts for the purchase of two items from the Home Shopping Network. Only the item numbers of the purchases are displayed, but each receipt bears Mr. Crane's handwritten notation explaining their purchase as furniture and electronic goods for use at ambulance headquarters. "Upon further inspection, it turns out these items are not file cabinets, or end tables, or radio equipment for ambulance company use," DA Spota explained.

"An item described by the defendant's note as "Electronics for HQ", purchased last Dec. 20 at a cost of $274.90 is, as it turns out, an Amplified Acoustic Guitar, mailed directly to Mr. Crane's home at 12 Inlet View Path in East Moriches, New York."

"The other item he purchased from the Home Shopping Network, on Jan. 12 of this year, described by Mr. Crane on this receipt as "Furniture for HQ" is yet another guitar, with "five instructional DVD's", billed to taxpayers at a cost of $322.85," said Spota.

Initial information provided by the ambulance company covering the four-month period ending in February of this year indicates approximately $6,500 in merchandise, including personal grocery bills, for which Crane was reimbursed with taxpayer funds.

Crane is charged with third degree grand larceny and one count of offering a false instrument in the first degree. The defendant pleaded not guilty at his arraignment in district court and was released on his own recognizance.

Arrested Tuesday by district attorney detectives for the theft of money from the Selden fire district are two current and three former members of the district's Board of Commissioners. Arraigned in first district court today on charges of third degree grand larceny and offering a false instrument for filing in the first degree were former commissioner Robert Santora, 65, of 40 Abinbet Court in Selden, current commissioner James Spatafora, 46, of 42 Fairlane Drive in Selden, John Emr, 69, of 40 Birchwood Drive in Coram, a former commissioner, 55 year old Joseph Parente, of 128 Ruland Road in Selden a current commissioner, and former commissioner Joseph Callari, 67, of 47 Cedar Street in Selden. The Selden defendants were released on their own recognizance after pleading not guilty at their arraignments.

DA Spota said $23,000 in restitution would be sought from Santora, $11,000 from Spatafora, $9,000 from John Emr, $5,100 from Joseph Parente and $4,500 from Joseph Callari. The $52,000 plus in restitution covers improper expenses related to travel and lodging during district junkets. A State Comptrollers audit in 1998 criticized the Selden district's skimpy record keeping and insufficient protocols that resulted in thousands of dollars in reimbursements being awarded for incomplete receipts. Since the report nine years ago, fire commissioners were issued American Express cards to use during out-of-town trips to better document their spending. "Unfortunately, Spota said, "they have for the most part, ignored using the charge cards and continued to file incomplete paperwork and partial receipts to receive reimbursement from taxpayers."

Third degree grand larceny is punishable by a maximum prison perm of two and one-third to seven years. First degree offering a false instrument for filing is an E felony punishable by a maximum of one and one-third to four years in prison. Each of the Selden Fire district defendants entered a plea of not guilty.

The eighth defendant to surrender Tuesday for arraignment was 41-year-old Michael Konsevitch of Port Jefferson Station. Konsevitch is charge with one count of third degree grand larceny for his alleged theft from Terryville Fire Department accounts. The defendant, while working as the chair of the Carnival committee in 2005, wrote seven checks payable to himself totaling $5,210.99.

Konsevitch resigned from the Terryville department in October of 2005. District Attorney Spota said the defendant has repaid $3,500 of the money to date. Konsevitch was ror'd by Judge Iliou and returns to court Aug. 10.
3-22-07

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