Goodwill employees stole more than $43G from nonprofit, Suffolk police say

Two Goodwill Industries managers stole more than $43,000 from the nonprofit over the course of more than 10 months, Suffolk police said Wednesday.

The women — Elana Sofia, 29, of Port Jefferson, and Sandra Bonilla, 33, of Brentwood — worked at a Goodwill location on Jericho Turnpike in East Northport. The $43,330 was stolen from bank deposits between Nov. 4, 2020, and Aug. 17 this year, according to the charging documents.

Both women were charged with third-degree grand larceny.

Sofia was arraigned Tuesday and released on her own recognizance, prosecutors said.

Bonilla was arraigned Wednesday and also released on her own recognizance, authorities said.

George Duncan, a defense attorney representing Sofia, said his client is "absolutely innocent. She's looking forward to going to trial. She's been absolutely wrongly accused of this."

Andrew Karpf, a defense attorney representing Bonilla, said: "Our position is the same; she is innocent."

Karpf said he will be demanding that prosecutors provide the surveillance video from the banks where his defendant says she deposited the funds.

"There's an allegation that my client and the co-defendant never made it to the banks and our position is not only did she make it to the banks, but made the deposits when she was supposed to, and didn't take a dollar from Goodwill, let alone the more than $43,000 they were alleging," Karpf said.

Sofia is due back in court Oct. 28 and Bonilla will appear again Oct. 27.

Goodwill’s stated mission is to address poverty and unemployment affecting "people with disabilities and other challenges to finding jobs."

"Goodwill NYNJ thanks the authorities for appropriately conducting the investigation of this isolated incident perpetrated against a venerable 106-year-old charity. We are disappointed for this unfortunate issue at one of our stores, but are reassured that it will not stop our work of breaking employment barriers for individuals with disabilities and other disadvantages," a spokesman for the nonprofit, Jose​ Medellin, said in an email Thursday.