DA: Bookkeeper Bilked Locust Valley Employer of $866K

The bookkeeper of a Locust Valley architectural firm has been charged with stealing more than $866,000 from her employer over a six-year period by forging checks with the signature of one of the firm's partners, and then cashing those checks to pay for luxury vacations, fancy restaurants and shopping sprees.

Lori Maceluch, 48, of Huntington, was arraigned Wednesday on a grand jury indictment, charging her with grand larceny and 378 counts of criminal possession of a forged instrument, said Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice.

“The amount of money this defendant stole is incredible, but the betrayal of her employer’s trust is truly shocking,” Rice said. “Her lavish lifestyle, however, could not protect her from the consequences of her deception.”

Maceluch, however, pleaded not guilty to the charges, Newsday reported.

Hauppauge-based attorney Michael Alber, who is representing Maceluch, told Newsday that his client "comes from a good family with good values," adding that the case would be tried in court.

If convicted, Maceluch faces up to 15 years in prison. She is expected back in court Aug. 15.

According to Rice, Maceluch had worked at the firm for 15 years and had unrestricted and unsupervised access to the firm’s operating account. She managed to hide the theft by fraudulently enhancing legitimate expenses in the company’s financial records, the DA’s office said.

Maceluch used the stolen money to pay for meals at expensive restaurants, and luxury trips to the Berkshires, Nantucket Island, Fire Island, Florida, and the Dominican Republic, Rice said. She also spent tens of thousands of dollars on credit card payments and at Lord & Taylor and Bon Bon’s Chocolatier, Rice said.

Through a 2011 company internal audit, the theft was discovered when discrepancies between the firm’s accounts payables and receivables could not be explained, according to prosecutors. Maceluch was terminated soon after, and the case was referred to the DA’s office.

Assistant District Attorney William Jorgenson of the DA’s Government and Consumer Frauds Bureau is prosecuting the case for the DA’s office.