Gregory Vasicek, president of Play4Autism nonprofit, pleads guilty to defrauding businesses, Suffolk DA says

The president of a Queens autism charity has pleaded guilty to defrauding vendors by writing bad checks for thousands of dollars, including to Adventureland amusement park in Farmingdale, Suffolk prosecutors said Monday.

Gregory Vasicek, 60, the president of the Queens nonprofit Play4Autism, which provides team sports programs for children with autism, pleaded guilty before Acting Supreme Court Justice Richard I. Horowitz to one count of first-degree scheme to defraud.

In pleading guilty, he admitted promising to pay thousands of dollars to various vendors for goods and services for which he never paid, prosecutors said.

He was initially charged in November with three counts of felony grand larceny, a scheme to defraud, misdemeanor theft of services, and petty larceny, prosecutors have said.

“This defendant preyed upon the goodwill of Suffolk County residents and business owners under the guise of helping autistic children to benefit himself,” said Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney. “My Office will continue to hold accountable all those who manipulate, steal, and violate the public’s trust.”

Between April 21 and May 2, 2022, Vasicek wrote checks from his charity’s bank account while knowing that the account had insufficient funds, and never paid the vendors despite multiple attempts by the victims to get payment, according to prosecutors and the defendant's statemen made when he pleaded guilty.

Vasicek also fraudulently solicited and received hundreds of dollars in registration fees from donors for a golf outing that he claimed was scheduled for Oct. 19 at a Manorville golf course. But the outing was never actually scheduled to take place at that location.

He is due back in court for sentencing on July 6. Vasicek is represented by the Legal Aid Society of Suffolk County, which does not comment to the news media.

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Stuart P. Levy of the Public Corruption Bureau.

The Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office is asking anyone who suspects that they may have been defrauded by Vasicek or his charity to contact the district attorney’s office at (631) 853-4626.

By Nicole Fuller

nicole.fuller@newsday.com@NicoleFuller

Nicole Fuller is Newsday's senior criminal justice reporter. She began working at Newsday in 2012 and previously covered local government.