Talk about getting caught with your hand in the cookie jar.
A former finance director at the Girl Scout Council of Greater New York admitted on Tuesday to stealing more than $300,000 from the organization. She is Yaasmin Hooey, 35, of Manhattan.
That’s enough for more than 80,000 boxes of Tagalongs (Peanut Butter Patties). But Hooey wasn’t buying cookies. Instead, she was spending the money on cruises, cosmetic laser procedures and a $13,000 diamond ring. She also spent $18,000 in bars and restaurants, according to the District Attorney’s Office. Life is not going to be so luxurious behind prison bars.
She plead guilty to second-degree grand larceny. Hooey admitted stealing $311,568 between September 2008 and December 2010. “She began stealing from the non-profit as soon as she began working for them,” said assistant district attorney Lauren Littman.
Hooey admitted forging the signature of the organization’s then-chief executive and writing 65 checks to herself from a payroll account. Nine wire transfers also moved money from two of the nonprofit’s bank accounts to Hooey’s own account.
In addition to spending the stolen money on luxury items, she used some of the money for “personal expenses” including groceries, a gym membership, clothing, and commuter train tickets.
She will be sentenced in the New York Supreme Court on March 6.
