
Ex-Treasurer May Cut a Check to Avoid Jail After Stealing From PS 29 in Cobble Hill
Photo curtesy of Joyce at nycschoolhelp.com
Later this month, Providence Hogan, the former treasurer of Cobble Hill’s PS 29 PTA, will either accept or turn down a plea deal from the Brooklyn District Attorney’s office. The deal requires Hogan to plead guilty and pay back $82,000 to the PTA in order to avoid trial and potential jail time.
Hogan in March was arrested and accused of stealing $100,000 from the school between 2006 and 2010, when she worked as the unpaid, volunteer treasurer. According to court papers, investigators were able to track $82,000 of the money.
According to Jonah Bruno, spokesman for Brooklyn D.A. Charles Hynes, if Hogan accepts the deal, she will have to produce a check to the PTA for $41,000 at her court date June 27 at New York State Supreme Court. Her option is to maintain her not-guilty plea and head to trial. She faces two to six years if convicted on felony grand larceny charges and 12 counts of falsifying business records if the case goes to trial.
Under the plea agreement, Hogan will get five years of probation.
She would have to pay the remaining $41,000 debt to the PTA at a later date, yet to be determined, Bruno said.
“That’s the deal on the table,” Bruno said.
The DA’s indictment charges that the thefts occurred during the time that Hogan served as treasurer from 2006 to 2010, and that she admitted the crime when confronted by the PTA board, which discovered the funds missing. The indictment further charges that Hogan wrote out several large checks to herself. Checks were made out to cash to pay business expenses including rent for her place of business, Providence Day Spa.
The DA’s office says Hogan also used PTA funds to pay for personal expenses including the rent on her apartment, fertility treatments, and, according to Hogan, to “keep her family living in the lifestyle they were accustomed to.† She concealed the thefts by falsifying documents.
Care about PS 29? Check out these related stories:
PS 29 Races to 50K Goal
PS 29: A Parent’s View