Dominic Coluccio, of Bellmore, ex-NYC president of probation officers union, ordered to pay more than $1.3M for stealing from association, prosecutors say

The former president of New York City’s probation officers union — a Bellmore resident who pleaded guilty to stealing $750,000 from the association and its members — was sentenced to three years’ probation and home confinement Tuesday by a federal judge in Manhattan.

U.S. District Judge Lorna G. Schofield also ordered former United Probation Officers Association (UPOA) leader Dominic Coluccio to forfeit $750,000 and pay nearly $685,000 in restitution to the union and its taxpayer-supported welfare funds.

Coluccio, 75, pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud in April. He served as UPOA’s president from 1989 to 2016.

"Mr. Coluccio abused his trusted position as the president of a labor organization to steal from its membership and from New York City taxpayers and today he faces the consequences," Jocelyn E. Strauber, commissioner of the New York City Department of Investigation, said in a statement announcing the sentence.

Eliel Talo, one of Coluccio’s attorneys, said the Bellmore man is struggling with health issues and accepted full responsibility in court on Tuesday for his actions.

"Both Judge Schofield and the government recognized that sentencing is one of the most challenging parts of the criminal justice system, and we think that the court’s decision to sentence Mr. Coluccio to three years probation and 2 years home confinement thoughtfully balanced the seriousness of the charges and the unfortunate reality of Mr. Coluccio’s grave health conditions," Talo said.

Between 2012 and 2019, authorities said, Coluccio was engaged in a multifaceted scheme to embezzle money from UPOA and its welfare funds.

UPOA reimbursed him for personal expenses charged to his personal American Express card, including luxury travel, jewelry, retail goods and a relative’s college tuition, prosecutors from the Southern District of New York said when announcing his guilty plea in April.

Coluccio also misappropriated funds from UPOA and its welfare funds to establish an individual retirement account in the name of UPOA, with a subaccount in his name, Southern district prosecutors said. When Coluccio retired as UPOA president in 2016, he was named the administrator of the union’s welfare funds, with an annual salary equal to the probation department commissioner’s salary — in addition to his UPOA pension, UPOA severance and probation pension.

Coluccio also sought reimbursement for medical, dental and vision expenses he and his dependents incurred from 2000 to 2020, the Manhattan federal prosecutors said.