Cops: Woman charged with stealing money from her Nassau AHRC clients

A Brooklyn woman was arrested and charged with stealing money from group home members at the Nassau County AHRC program where she worked in Woodmere, Nassau County police said Monday.

Leslie Vega, 46, of 1239 E. 85th St. in Canarsie, was arrested in Kings County Criminal Court, where police said she was being arraigned for driving with a suspended license.

Vega was charged with third-degree grand larceny, second-degree criminal possession of a forged instrument and first-degree scheme to defraud. She is scheduled for arraignment Monday in First District Court in Hempstead.

Police said the arrest followed an investigation by Crimes Against Property detectives and said that, between Nov. 12, 2012, and Nov. 17, 2012, Vega stole "in excess of $4,000" from group members while she worked at AHRC on Peninsula Boulevard.

The agency works to benefit and assist those with intellectual and other developmental disabilities, according to the Nassau AHRC website.

Police said that, while employed at the agency, Vega "fraudulently withdrew funds" from multiple TD Bank branch accounts "belonging to group home members." It was not immediately clear how many withdrawals were involved -- or how many of the group home members were victimized.

By John Valenti

john.valenti@newsday.com

John Valenti, a reporter at Newsday since 1981, has been honored nationally by the Associated Press and Society of the Silurians for investigative, enterprise and breaking news reporting, as well as column writing, and is the author of “Swee'pea,” a book about former New York playground basketball star Lloyd Daniels. Valenti is featured in the Emmy Award-winning ESPN 30-for-30 film “Big Shot.”