Corrupt Courthouse Bookkeeper Stole $2.6 Million From The Dead

Corrupt Brooklyn courthouse bookkeeper stole $2.6 million from the dead
The New York Daily News by Greg B. Smith and Janon Fisher  -  May 4, 2012
Theft funded lavish shopping sprees for camera equipment, Gucci products, Apple computers and even a New Year’s Eve weekend in Las Vegas: officials
Richard Paul was the alleged ringleader of four people from the Brooklyn Public Administrator who were indicted and charged with stealing $2.6 million from the estates of the deceased.  George Bethea was one of four people from the Brooklyn Public Administrator indicted and charged with stealing $2.6 million from the estates of the deceased.

A corrupt county bookkeeper in the Brooklyn courthouse stole $2.6 million from the estates of dead people and funneled the money to three of his cronies, according to indictments unsealed Friday.  Richard Paul, who worked in the Kings County Public Administrator’s office, used his own password to get access to the funds of people who died without wills, cut checks to phony names and deposited them into a TD Bank account in the Garment District.  Paul, who was arrested in January, and his cohort Taryn Miller, 33, are both charged with two counts of grand larceny. Miller’s husband, George Bethea, 34, and former city department of corrections officer Ransel Sangster, 35, were charged with grand larceny in the second degree. All pleaded not guilty.  “By breaching the public trust in order to line his pockets, the defendant violated his obligations to the City and to all New Yorkers,” District Attorney Cyrus Vance said of Paul. The fraud uncovered by Investigations Department exposed a weakness in the city’s system of maintaining so-called “abandoned” estates — estates where no legitimate relative comes forward to claim the money.  When the public administrators can’t find next of kin, they’re supposed to send the money by check to the city Finance Department, which holds on to it in case a relative comes forward later.  But investigators discovered the public administrators and finance weren’t double-checking to make sure the money got to where it was supposed to go.  In Brooklyn, investigators discovered one out of every four checks went missing — $12.7 million of $34.4 million from abandoned estates between 2004 and 2011. That included the $2.6 million allegedly stolen by Paul.  The problem may exist in the other boroughs as well, where 567 checks from abandoned estates worth $110 million have been written to the finance department since Jan. 1, 2007, officials said.  Finance auditors are now going back over all those checks to make sure they were deposited correctly Finance auditors are now checking.  “This investigation exposed an audacious and calculated scheme to steal money from the dead” DOI Commissioner Rose Gill Hearn said. “Investigators quickly found that a key insider and his accomplices methodically raided the accounts of a City office charged with safeguarding decedents’ property. DOI is recommending measures to the relevant City agencies to prevent a recurrence of the fraud uncovered by the investigation.”  Paul, who worked at the Public Administrator’s office for 10 years, used his own password to log into the computer that controls the funds, prosecutors say.  Starting in August 2008 through November of last year, prosecutors say he cut checks for draw-dropping amounts of cash. Sangster, deposited a $390,287.41 in his bank account in August 2008 and another for $200,000 in November 2011 while he was still working for the DOC, prosecutors say. Bethea was the recipient of $150,000 that should have gone in the public coffers, according to court papers.  The crew went on shopping sprees, spending $44,000 on camera equipment, Gucci products and Apple computers, investigators believe. Sangster also treated himself to a New Year’s Eve weekend in Las Vegas. He declined to comment.  Paul’s lawyer, Louis Rosenthal, said that his client trained others on the computer bookkeeping system and his password was available to many employees.  “Half a dozen people have his password and passcode,” he said. “It’s unthinkable that he would use his own code to cut forged checks.”  Darren Fields, the lawyer for Miller, said that his client has no association with the county office.  “She never worked for the public administrator, she never received funds from the public administrator,” he said. “She’s a victim of circumstance.”  jfisher@nydailynews.com