Crime & Safety

D.A.: Bethpage Woman Stole $5K From PTA Fund

Woman accused of forging school's PTA president's signature on four checks.

A Bethpage woman is accused of stealing more than $5,000 from an elementary school's PTA fund for which she served as treasurer, authorities said.

Kathryn Savage, 37, ripped off the PTA fund by forging the PTA president's signature on four checks, Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice announced Wednesday.

“This defendant betrayed every child at the school and every PTA member who trusted her to handle the association’s finances,” Rice said. “PTA members volunteer their time to provide a more fulfilling educational experience for the students. They shouldn’t have to worry that one of their own is stealing from them.”

Savage, 37, was arrested Wednesday morning by D.A. investigators. She is charged with felony counts of grand larceny and four counts of criminal possession of a forged instrument. She faces up to seven years in prison if convicted.

Between August, 2012 and July, 2013, Savage served as the treasurer for the Central Boulevard Parent-Teacher Association. Between April 1, and May 23, Savage wrote five unauthorized checks on the PTA’s check account totaling $5,401.20, Rice said.

One of the checks was written to Savage’s boyfriend; the other four were written to cash, and then either endorsed or cashed by Savage, according to the D.A.'s office.

The four checks written to cash bear the signature of Savage and the PTA president. The president "never signed the check, nor gave her permission, consent, or authorization to Savage to sign her name," Rice said.

The theft was discovered during an internal audit of the account by members of the PTA. The case was then referred to Rice’s office.

Assistant District Attorney Edward Bradley of DA Rice’s Government & Consumer Frauds Bureau is prosecuting the case.

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Savage is scheduled to be arraigned on the charges later Wednesday.


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