MINEOLA, N.Y. – Nassau County District Attorney Madeline Singas announced that a grand jury has indicted a former Hempstead volunteer firefighter on 13 charges related to allegedly stealing more than $6,500 from the department and for filing a false document to obtain employment with the Hempstead Village Police Department.
Randy Stith, 27, was arraigned today before Acting Supreme Court Justice Teresa Corrigan and charged with:
- Criminal Possession of a Forged Instrument in the Second Degree (a D Felony)
- Grand Larceny in the Third Degree (a D Felony)
- Grand Larceny in the Fourth Degree (an E Felony)
- Two counts of Falsifying Business Records in the First Degree (an E Felony)
- Two counts of Offering a False Instrument for Filing in the First Degree (an E Felony)
- Two counts of Falsifying Business Records in the Second Degree (an A misdemeanor)
- Two counts of Offering a False Instrument for Filing in the Second Degree (an A misdemeanor)
- Petit Larceny (an A misdemeanor)
- Official Misconduct (an A misdemeanor).
The defendant pled not guilty, was released on his recognizance and is due back in court June 1. If convicted of the top count he faces up to 2-1/3 years to seven years in prison.
“This defendant’s alleged theft of funds that were intended to buy emergency equipment and support the lifesaving work of volunteer firefighters is an outrageous betrayal of the trust placed in him as treasurer,” DA Singas said. “Anyone who steals from Nassau taxpayers will be held accountable by my office and I thank the Hempstead Volunteer Fire Department for bringing us this case.”
DA Singas said that from February 2015 to January 2018, Randy Stith, a volunteer firefighter and treasurer for the Hempstead Volunteer Fire Department, allegedly made 12 unauthorized cash withdrawals from the bank account of HVFD Southside Hose 2.
The Fire Department paid for a Carnival Cruise vacation for five members, but was issued a refund for the taxes charged when the cruise was cancelled. The defendant allegedly cashed the refund check and falsified expenses in a financial statement to obscure the withdrawals from the company’s bank account. In total, Stith is alleged to have stolen $6,503.00 from the company and was terminated from the Hempstead Volunteer Fire Department on January 31, 2018.
The defendant, a probationary member of the Hempstead Village Police Department, also allegedly submitted a forged recommendation letter in April 2015 to the Nassau County Civil Service Commission.
On February 25, 2015, Stith was disqualified from civil service by the Nassau County Civil Service Commission on grounds unrelated to this investigation. To persuade the commission to rescind the disqualification, the defendant filed a forged letter of recommendation purporting to be signed by another member of the HVFD Southside Hose 2 fire company and asked the commission to use the letter in determining his character.
The commission factored in the letter and materials submitted by Stith and subsequently rescinded Stith’s disqualification. He was sworn in as a police officer on June 8, 2017.
Stith currently serves as a trustee of the Hempstead Union Free School District.
Senior Assistant District Attorney Lisa Berk of DA Singas’ Public Corruption Bureau is prosecuting the case. The defendant is represented by Joseph Conway, Esq.
The charges are merely accusations and the defendant is presumed innocent until and unless found guilty.
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