A former Mamaroneck Public Library employee has pled guilty to defrauding the Mamaroneck Public Library, a felony, according to Westchester County DA’s office.
The plea bargain for Former Business Manager Mary Soto includes a $43,900 fine and 3 years probation.
Soto was charged with stealing approximately $44,769 from the library between 2016 and 2023. Details of the shortfall became public after the story was broken by the Loop last year.
“It does not begin to repair the damages done,” says Library Director Jennifer O’Neill, “but we will have to turn the page and continue the long struggle to make the library whole again. ”
Soto was not charged for the years of knowingly and willfully deceiving the Library Board with false financial statements, leading them to believe that the Library had millions of dollars in cash reserves that did not exist.
The Board was compelled to ask former Mayor Tom Murphy and the Village Board for help in securing $1.2 million to keep the library open. The library says it is on track to pay that amount back by the end of fiscal year 2025.
The Board and library director should be fired for not doing their job.
Has anyone been given an explanation that makes sense, as to why the town needed to take on a $1.2m bond because $44k was stolen over a 7 year span?
Good question.