From the Archives: Roslyn school official out of prison

This story was originally published in Newsday on Oct. 29, 2011.

Pamela Gluckin, the first Roslyn school official charged in an $11-million embezzlement at the school district, was the last scandal participant to be released from prison after spending nearly five years behind bars.

Gluckin, 65, was released in May and remains on parole until Sept. 17, 2015, state Department of Corrections officials confirmed Friday.

Gluckin, the former assistant superintendent for business, was sentenced to 3 to 9 years in September 2006 after pleading guilty to first-degree grand larceny. Prosecutors said she stole $4.3 million from the district and has repaid about half that sum. She also pledged to Roslyn half her state pension - about $21,000 per year, according to prosecutors.

"She has paid her debt to her society. She is doing what she is supposed to being doing pursuant to her parole and she intends to acclimate herself back into society and be productive," said her attorney, Victor Mevorah of Garden City. "She's very remorseful and she is very embarrassed and she can't believe it happened and she wants to make to amends."

Gluckin did not return a call for comment. Roslyn school officials declined to comment.

Gluckin, of Seaford, now works for a nonprofit in Queens, said Department of Corrections officials. She cannot work in any fiduciary capacity or hold credit cards or a checking account.

Gluckin had pleaded guilty as part of a deal with prosecutors, turning over documents she took when she retired in October 2002.

Also charged was former Superintendent Frank Tassone, who prosecutors said took more than $2 million in Roslyn, which he has paid back.

Tassone, 64, who pleaded guilty to first- and second-degree grand larceny, was sentenced in 2006 to 4 to 12 years, and was released in February 2010 - more than eight months early for good behavior and completing rehabilitative programs. He still receives his annual state pension of $173,495.

Gluckin was denied a release in 2008 and 2009. Since February, she has been at Bayview Correctional Facility in Manhattan in a work-release program.

Prosecutors said she used the stolen funds to pay for artwork, jewelry, home mortgage payments, her daughter's college tuition, trips and utility bills.

A property auction yielded more than $94,980 for the school district, according to District Attorney Kathleen Rice's office.

Six people, four of whom worked for the district, pleaded guilty in connection with the theft.