Ex-finance director of children's service sentenced to jail

The former finance director of a company that serves children with developmental delays went to jail Tuesday after Nassau prosecutors said she stole more than $143,000 from the business.

Acting State Supreme Court Justice Francis Ricigliano sentenced Patricia Sales, 46, of Huntington Station, to 364 days in jail under a November plea deal in which she admitted to a felony grand larceny charge.

The defendant, who worked for All About Kids, declined to speak before the judge announced her punishment in Nassau County Court. She didn't respond to a question as court officers led her out in handcuffs and her attorney, Gregory Kalmar, declined to comment on the case.

The Nassau District Attorney's Office said employees of All About Kids were looking in Sales' office for bank statements in February 2020 when they found several notices from the Internal Revenue Service showing the company hadn't paid payroll taxes since at least June 2019.

The documents indicated the business, which has a location in Plainview where Sales worked, owed more than $700,000 in past due taxes and $140,000 in IRS penalties, according to prosecutors. They said the company — which fired Sales — discovered, after an in-depth review of checks, bank statements and accounting systems, that she had created unauthorized checks made out to herself.

Sales had access to the company's system for generating checks, as well as a stamp with the owner's signature, and deposited checks she made out to herself into her own bank account, according to prosecutors.

Authorities said Sales stole $143,680 in all from the company, which lists six locations in New York, while failing in her role as a company official to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars in payroll taxes to the IRS.

Prosecutor Erica Zimmerman said in court that an insurance company had reimbursed the business for the stolen funds. Nassau District Attorney Anne Donnelly said in a statement later that Sales used All About Kids' coffers "as a personal bank account," and people who abuse their authority for personal gain "will be caught and held accountable."

Court records show Sales also faces a felony identity theft charge in Suffolk County after an April arrest.

A complaint alleges Sales in 2018 used a credit card account belonging to another Suffolk resident to make more than $3,000 in unauthorized purchases from a utility company and a dance school. That case, in which Sales' attorney said she entered a not-guilty plea, is back in court next week.

All About Kids owner Michael Grossfeld said in a statement Tuesday that company officials "take very seriously our duty to protect public funding designated for children's services." He added that payments to the IRS of taxes unpaid by Sales "are near completion" and that the company maintained the integrity of its programs "despite the theft and financial impact."