Crime

Former Merokean sentenced for embezzling nonprofit funds

Inspector General: Money intended for disabled used to finance ‘posh lifestyle’

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A former Merrick resident will spend three months in jail for embezzling around $100,000 meant for developmentally disabled people in order to finance what the State Inspector General called “her posh personal lifestyle.”

Yolanda Vitulli, 53, was sentenced on Feb. 22 in Brooklyn federal court to three months of jail time for embezzling public funds, according to Inspector General Catherine Leahy Scott. She will have to pay $88,659 restitution and serve up to as much as 300 hours of community service over three years of supervised release for the charge on which she was indicted by a Brooklyn federal grand jury in June 2016.

According to Leahy Scott, over a five-year period, while she served as executive director of Tender Care Human Services, a nonprofit, Queens-based social service provider for people with autism and other disabilities, Vitulli used the charity’s funds to pay her own housekeepers and nannies.

Also, between 2012 and 2013, Vitulli used stolen Tender Care funds to hire a contractor to purchase and install Bahama Spas hot tub, which was advertised to “bring a sense of vacation to your backyard and a sense of serenity to your life.”

According to Leahy Scott, Vitulli also allegedly used the taxpayer-subsidized funds for a new dishwasher, a security camera system, fencing at her property and Ethan Allen bedroom furniture.

"This defendant preyed on our most vulnerable people to enrich herself and subsidize a life of luxury," said Leahy Scott. "I will relentlessly pursue anyone who exploits the developmentally disabled and steals taxpayer funds."

United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, Robert L. Capers and his office assisted in prosecuting the case and Assistant Director-in-Charge of the FBI New York Field Office William F. Sweeney, Jr., and his agents for their partnership investigated.