WHITE PLAINS, NY — Westchester County District Attorney Janet DiFiore announced that Karen Velasquez, 39, of 181 Sedgwick Avenue, Yonkers, New York pled guilty today to one count of Grand Larceny in the Third Degree, a class “D” Felony.
The defendant, a former employee of Aramark, a food services/facilities management company, was assigned to the Mount Vernon School District Food Service Department located within Mount Vernon High School at 100 California Road.
From September 10th, 2010 to January 3rd, 2011, the defendant stole more than $35,000 from the Mount Vernon School system.
The defendant accomplished this by intentionally manipulating the food service monitoring program located in the food service department office where the defendant worked. This “Master Computer” program is used to monitor the lunch program of the 16 schools which encompass the Mount Vernon School System.
The defendant did not have the authorization to access the edit portion of the program and used this program to falsely reflect lower cash receipts from said schools, thereby enabling the defendant to withhold cash on a regular basis, which she then kept for her own personal use.
By manipulating the program to conceal the actual amount of lunch money collected, the defendant stole in excess of $35,000 in lunch money revenue.
Bail of $1,000 was continued.
Sentencing will be on March 11th, 2014.
The defendant faces a maximum sentence of seven years in state prison.
Assistant District Attorney Brian Conway, Deputy Bureau Chief of the Public Integrity Bureau, is prosecuting the case.
WESTCHESTER COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY
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111 Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd.
White Plains, New York 10601
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