A bookkeeper for a Bay Shore plumbing company used a rubber stamp and electronic transfers to embezzle more than $1 million, then used the money to pay off her and her friends’ credit cards, according to an indictment unsealed Thursday in Suffolk County court.
Domenica Giordano, 39, of Islip Terrace, who kept accounts at All Systems Maintenance from 2003 to 2020, was indicted on charges of grand larceny in the first degree, Suffolk District Attorney Raymond Tierney said in a news release.
Her lawyer, Richard Kaufman, denied his client took the money and said that the prosecutor could put his client through a polygraph test to prove her innocence.
“My client already passed my own polygraph test and I offered to let them use their own and they declined,” he said. “I’m really disappointed that the DA took this story to the press. The story of this case speaks for itself.”
Tierney’s office charged that Giordano began siphoning money from the company account in 2015, using a rubber stamp with the signature of Eileen Penny, the commercial plumbing company’s owner, to authorize the checks.
The missing money was uncovered when Penny asked Giordano for help accessing the corporate bank accounts, according to the prosecutor. After being ignored for several days, Penny went straight to the local Bank of America branch and discovered over $1 million in unauthorized withdrawals, the district attorney charged.
Penny did not immediately comment on the case. Her lawyer did not respond to a request for comment.
Tierney said that the case shows his commitment to protecting small businesses.
“Small businesses are an integral part of our local economy,” Tierney said. “My office takes all allegations of theft from hardworking business owners very seriously. If you steal in Suffolk County, we will hold you accountable.”
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https://www.newsday.com/long-island/crime/domenica-giordano-embezzlement-indictment-gno1fjg6
