Stacy Margaritondo, 52, of Scotch Plains, N.J., pleaded guilty in U.S. district court to stealing about $350,000 from a local synagogue, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Jersey stated on Thursday.
From December 2019 until May 2023, Margaritondo—who began working at the synagogue in Union County, N.J., in 2010 and was promoted to office manager and bookkeeper in July 2020—“abused this position of trust by engaging in a fraudulent scheme to misappropriate approximately $350,000 from the synagogue’s accounts,” per the Justice Department.
She “routinely issued unauthorized checks made payable to herself drawn on the synagogue’s bank accounts” and “obtained unauthorized additional funds to conceal the embezzlement scheme by fraudulently using the synagogue’s name, bank statements and balance sheet to obtain short-term financing from at least three cash advance companies,” the department stated.
Margaritondo also kept inaccurate records deliberately and “altered bank statements that she provided to the board of directors to conceal her scheme,” it added.
She faces up to 20 years in prison and a fine of $250,000 “or twice the gross gain or loss from the offense,” per the Justice Department. She is due to be sentenced on July 22.
