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Olean Firefighter Charged With Stealing Over $116,000 From City's Fire Department

New York State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli, Cattaraugus County District Attorney Lori Pettit Rieman and the New York State Police announced the arrest of Terry Gaylor Jr., for allegedly stealing over $116,000 from the City of Olean Fire Department (COFD). Gaylor Jr., a former trustee and current firefighter with COFD, was arrested after a joint investigation by the Comptroller, District Attorney and State Police. 

DiNapoli: Former Treasurer of Frewsburg Central School District Pleads Guilty to Stealing Nearly $7,000 in School Funds

New York State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli and District Attorney Jason Schmidt today announced the arrest and guilty plea of Angela Smoulder, former Treasurer of the Frewsburg Central School District, for stealing nearly $7,000 in funds raised by students to support their extra-classroom activities.

2021 Year in Review

A look back at some of the major accomplishments of the Office of the New York State Comptroller in 2021, including achieving a record 33.5% investment return for the State pension fund, protecting the pension fund by divesting from coal and oil sands companies while investing in sustainable and low-carbon opportunities, tracking employment and economic trends while closely monitoring pandemic relief programs, returning $348 million in lost money to rightful owners, and more. 

Middletown Employee Charged With Theft

New York State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli, Orange County District Attorney David M. Hoovler and the New York State Police announced the arrest of Thomas McKelevey, 70, of Middletown for allegedly stealing nearly $90,000 from the City of Middletown by claiming overlapping hours on his time sheets when he worked for both the City of Middletown and the Town of Crawford from 2012 to 2019. In addition to allegedly defrauding the municipalities, McKelvey’s deception allowed him to falsely inflate his retirement benefit and defraud the pension system in excess of $5,000.

Local Sales Tax Collections Up More Than 17% in November

Statewide local sales tax collections grew by 17.5% in November compared to the same month in 2020. Overall, local collections totaled almost $1.6 billion, up $235 million from November of last year. Collections for the month were also notably robust when compared to pre-pandemic levels, up 9.2% (or $133 million) from November of 2019.

Regional Table [.xlsx]

DiNapoli: Former Village of Bemus Point Clerk-Treasurer Pleads Guilty to Embezzling Village Funds

State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli, Chautauqua County District Attorney Jason Schmidt and Chautauqua County Sheriff James B. Quattrone today announced that former clerk-treasurer of the village of Bemus Point, Jennifer Jaegar, pleaded guilty to the theft of more than $58,000 in village funds.

Jaeger, 39, of Bemus Point, admitted that from 2015 to 2020 she wrote village checks to herself using forged signatures of officials and had village officials sign blank checks, which she then cashed.