Southampton bookkeeper charged with stealing from PTO, prosecutors say

Suffolk County prosecutors have charged a former Southampton bookkeeper with stealing more than $15,000 from a parent-teacher organization.

Maureen Cussen, also known as Maureen O’Leary, 55, of Sag Harbor, pleaded not guilty Wednesday to felony third-degree grand larceny, officials said.

Cussen worked as the bookkeeper for the Southampton Intermediate School’s PTO from February 2018 to October 2020 and kept the general ledger of the account at her home in Southampton, according to a felony criminal complaint.

Prosecutors said Cussen stole $15,399 as the PTO’s treasurer while working at home. Cussen removed the funds from the PTO’s bank account and debit card through ATM withdrawals, according to the complaint.

"She did steal the money from the organization’s account to make personal purchases," the complaint states. "She did so without the knowledge of the Southampton Intermediate School PTO board of directors."

Southampton police interviewed and took sworn statements from several PTO officials.

Cussen referred questions to her Westhampton Beach attorney, Keith O’Halloran. "She completely denies any criminal liability and she is cooperating with the DA and we don’t see any criminal activity," the attorney said.

O’Halloran said the funding dispute was a civil matter that was reported to police.

"There may have been errors in bookkeeping, but we have to do more investigation to find out what happened," he said. "She denies any intent to deprive the PTO of any funds."

A statement from the Southampton Union Free School District said they learned of the missing funds once charges were filed.

"School PTOs are separate entities, run independently by the PTO organization with no financial connections to the district, and therefore district programming is not impacted by their operations," the district said.

By John Asbury

john.asbury@newsday.comJohnAsbury

John Asbury is a breaking news and general assignment reporter. He has been with Newsday since 2014 and previously worked at The Press-Enterprise in Riverside, California.