A thieving administrative clerk from a small upstate New York town has been stripped of her pension – the first time the measure has been taken in the state’s history.
Ursula Stone, 56, swiped a grand total of $1,171,362 from Addison Village’s coffers over the course of nearly two decades, according to the Office of the New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli.
Under a New York anti-corruption law, Stone had her monthly $1,920 pension forfeited as a result of her conviction. She pleaded guilty in May to one felony count of corrupting the government and is scheduled to be sentenced to three to nine years in state prison on Aug. 7.
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“This case represents the most complete, and to be frank, shocking breach of public trust I have encountered in 30 years as a Steuben County prosecutor,” District Attorney Brooks Baker said in a statement.
The prosecutor said Stone’s 19-year plunder wouldn’t have been detected if it wasn’t for a probe by DiNapoli.
Stone, who assumed her post in 1997, appeared in Steuben County Court last week and agreed to relinquish her pension – the first such forfeiture in state history, according to the comptroller’s office.
“The reality is that but for some real heads-up detection work by members of the state comptroller’s staff, it would still be ongoing,” Baker said.
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Stone was targeted for the pension removal because her scheme impacted the village, he said.
A 2022 audit by DiNapoli’s office found that Stone was able to loot Addison’s finances without any oversight.
She issued raises, took unrecorded vacation time and cashed out on unused days, and even took health insurance payouts.
The ex-pensioner stole checks intended for the village and deposited the proceeds into her personal account, according to DiNapoli’s office.
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The pilferer resigned her post in March 2023 after investigators began closing in on her activities – but wrote herself one last check for roughly $26,000, authorities said.
The board stopped payment on the check before she could cash it. An attorney for Stone didn’t immediately return a request for comment.
