DA: PTA treasurer Kathryn Savage charged with grand larceny

A Bethpage woman was arrested Wednesday and charged with stealing more than $5,000 from her elementary school Parent-Teacher Association while she was treasurer, prosecutors said.

Kathryn Savage, 37, "forged the PTA president's signature on four checks," the Nassau County district attorney said in a news release.

District attorney investigators arrested Savage Wednesday morning and charged her with third-degree grand larceny and four counts of criminal possession of a forged instrument, prosecutors said. If convicted, she faces up to 7 years in prison.

Savage is scheduled to be arraigned later Wednesday in First District Court in Hempstead.

Between April 1 and May 23, while serving as treasurer of Central Boulevard Parent-Teacher Association in Bethpage, "Savage wrote five unauthorized checks on the PTA's check account totaling $5,401.20," District Attorney Kathleen Rice said in a news release. "One of the checks was written to Savage's boyfriend and the other four were written to cash, and then either endorsed or cashed by Savage."

Prosecutors said the four checks made out to cash "bear the signature of Savage and the PTA president. The president never signed the check, nor gave her permission, consent, or authorization to Savage to sign her name."

Rice's office said PTA members learned of the theft from an internal audit. Savage served as treasurer from August 2012 to July 2013, prosecutors said.

"This defendant betrayed every child at the school and every PTA member who trusted her to handle the association's finances," Rice said in a statement.