Anna Maria Restrepo used employee credit cards to steal from the Seawanhaka Corinthian Yacht Club between 2010 and 2017; was previously convicted of $100,000 theft from day care facility
MINEOLA, N.Y. – Nassau County District Attorney Anne T. Donnelly announced that a Glen Head woman was sentenced today to up to six years in prison for stealing more than $600,000 from an Oyster Bay yacht club over the course of seven years.
Anna Maria Restrepo, a/k/a Anna Maria Saboski, 59, pleaded guilty on January 13, 2023, before Judge Teresa Corrigan to Grand Larceny in the Second Degree (a C felony). The defendant was sentenced today to three to six years in prison. The defendant was also given a civil judgment order for $608,886 on behalf of the Seawanhaka Corinthian Yacht Club (SCYC) and a civil judgment order in the amount of $14,449 on behalf of American Express. The defendant also waived her right to appeal the plea and sentence.
The defendant is a second felony offender, previously convicted of Falsifying Business Records in the First Degree (an E felony) in May 2009. In that case, Restrepo stole more than $100,000 while working as a fiscal manager at Glen Cove Child Day Care. She was sentenced to a Conditional Discharge.
“Entrusted with the club’s credit cards, this defendant exploited that unique access to siphon $600,000 of club funds into her own bank accounts and used the money for personal expenses and made withdrawals at several casinos and resorts,” said DA Donnelly. “The defendant was previously convicted for a similar fraud scheme just months after she began working for the yacht club. Instead of starting fresh the defendant’s greed only intensified, and now she will spend years in prison as a result of her actions.”
DA Donnelly said that, in March 2009, the defendant was hired as a boatyard bookkeeper for the SCYC. As boatyard bookkeeper and later as boatyard office manager after a promotion, Restrepo’s responsibilities included handling recordkeeping and the payment of the club’s credit card. Her duties regarding purchasing were limited to office supplies as all boatyard inventory was purchased directly by the SCYC Shipstore Clerk.
Between 2010 and 2017, the defendant stole more than $600,000 from the yacht club, much of the theft committed using credit card numbers belonging to two SCYC employees.
The defendant initiated fraudulent credit card charges using PayPal and directed the funds to her own personal PayPal account.
From January 2013 through February 2017 the credit cards assigned to the two employees were involved in more than 460 unauthorized fund transfers to the defendant’s PayPal account.
Restrepo also made unauthorized charges at various restaurants and retail stores.
To hide her illegal conduct, the defendant also falsified SCYC’s business records and altered transactions to give the appearance that they were payments made to legitimate SCYC vendors. These falsifications allowed the scheme to go on undetected for several years.
Between 2013 and 2017, funds that were fraudulently transferred into the defendant’s PayPal account were disbursed using a PayPal Debit Card on more than 880 occasions, including withdrawals and transactions that took place in Costa Rica, The Seneca Casino Hotel in Niagara Falls, New York, and the Turning Stone Resort in Verona, New York. Withdrawals were also made in Glen Cove, Glen Head and Oyster Bay. There were additional transfers from the defendant’s PayPal account directly into a bank account that she controlled.
In July 2016, the defendant also opened an American Express card in the name of an SCYC employee without his permission or consent, and a supplemental account in her own name.
From August 2016 through February 2017, the defendant used these cards to make numerous unauthorized purchases for tens of thousands of dollars over the Internet to fund her PayPal account and to retailers like PeaPod, Ticketmaster, and the Tropicana Casino & Resort.
The defendant was arrested by members of the Nassau County Police Department on March 9, 2017.
The case is being prosecuted by Senior Assistant District Attorney Sara Schwartz of the Financial Crimes Bureau. The defendant is represented by John Maccarone, Esq. and Kevin Maccarone, Esq.
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