Belmont employee charged with grand larceny

Detectives assigned to the Nassau County district attorney’s office arrested Karen Pommells, 30, a Belmont Park cashier, on Aug. 29 and charged her with accepting thousands of dollars in counterfeit money from two associates in exchange for betting receipts. Detectives said that the receipts were exchanged for cash from a different cashier at the racetrack.

District Attorney Kathleen Rice announced the arrest, and said that on May 19, 2012, Pommells, of St. Albans, Queens, accepted $4,800 in counterfeit cash from two associates in exchange for valid betting receipts, which contain barcodes that the holder uses to place bets at automated betting machines.

“[Pommells] didn’t just break the law, she broke the trust placed in her by her employer and the people of New York,” Rice said. “She now faces criminal prosecution and serious consequences.”

New York Racing Association spokesman Eric Wing said that NYRA had cooperated in the investigation and was appreciative of the D.A.’s “vigilance in the matter.”

Pommells was arraigned at First District Court in Hempstead, charged with first-degree criminal possession of a forged instrument, third-degree grand larceny and fourth-degree conspiracy. She faces up to 15 years in prison.