It's a big news day for larcenous shenanigans in Kingston: Details have just emerged about a scheme to part developmentally disabled residents of a group home from their paychecks, and an Ulster County grand jury has just indicted a former Kingston cop on charges of stealing cash from the city, the county, and the Ulster Savings Bank to the tune of $200,000.*
Tom Ngowe, executive director of the Academy Green Residences, was arrested in March on charges that he stole over $200,000 from residents of the group home. According to a report released yesterday by the New York State Commission on Quality of Care and Advocacy for Persons with Disabilities, Ngowe made a habit of "helping" residents deposit their paychecks -- minus a chunk of cash skimmed off the top. From a press release issued by the commission:
According to CQC investigators, from 2007 to 2010, Mr. Ngowe stole some $175,000 from the disabled residents under his care, skimming most of the money from their paychecks. In addition, it is alleged that he improperly withdrew another $29,000 from the resident’s bank accounts during that same period.
A review of bank records and other financial documents found that Mr. Ngowe controlled the banking activity of the residents, filling out their deposit slips and then placing only a small portion of their paychecks into their accounts, taking the remainder in cash for himself. Investigators found that Ngowe used the trust he had built with the residents under his care to make them believe he was placing the cash in their personal allowance accounts at AGR.
The Daily Freeman and Times Herald-Record both have stories about the commission's report.
In other grand larceny news, Ulster County D.A. Holley Carnright announced this morning that a grand jury has indicted former Kingston school cop Tim Matthews -- who earlier this year was investigated on charges of double-dipping on pay -- on a laundry list of charges:
The grand jury found that Matthews had stolen money from the City of Kingston, Ulster County and Ulster Savings Bank. Most of the stolen money was cash taken from evidence, or money that Matthews was given to use in undercover operations that he pocketed instead, authorities said.
Carnright said the money stolen from Ulster Savings Bank was connected to security work that Matthews was doing for the bank at the Friar Tuck Inn, a foreclosed hotel north of Saugerties. Carnright said that Matthews purposely over billed the bank.
For more background on the Matthews case, see Daily Freeman reporter and editor Ivan Lajara's timeline of the scandal, which has been unfolding since January. To make the timeline, Lajara used a digital tool called Storify, which helps organize an ongoing story chronologically.
Lajara's been an enthusiastic adopter of new-media technology at the Freeman. It's all part of an effort by the Freeman's parent company, the Journal Register Company, to reinvent itself for the digital age.
*Update, 12:30pm: An earlier story about Matthews from the Times Herald-Record, which we linked to earlier this morning, did not include details about the charges against him. We mistakenly stated that the charges were related to his alleged double-dipping on pay while working overlapping hours for the police department and the Kingston School District; that's not the case. Sorry about that.
