January 3, 2007

Hempstead School Board Member Pleads Guilty

Grant pleads guilty to top charge, DA recommends he receive 1 1/3-4 years upstate

MINEOLA, NY - Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice announced today that Hempstead School Board Treasurer Terry Grant has pleaded guilty to two counts of Grand Larceny in the Third Degree, a Class D felony and the top charge in his June indictment. Mr. Grant also pleaded guilty to Scheme to Defraud in the First Degree, Grand Larceny in the Fourth Degree and Falsifying Business Records in the First Degree, each a Class E felony.

In addition to requiring that Mr. Grant pay $10,102.20 in restitution to various insurance companies and recommending a $20,000 fine, the district attorney’s office recommended that Mr. Grant, 49, of Hempstead, receive one and one-third to four years in prison. The district attorney also recommended that Mr. Grant be required to surrender his license to practice dentistry.

He is scheduled to be sentenced March 14 in Nassau County Court, Mineola.

Mr. Grant was charged in November 2005 with two counts of Falsifying Business Records in the First Degree. In June, a grand jury returned an indictment outlining broader and more serious charges against the dentist and owner of Gentle Dental in Hempstead.

By pleading guilty Wednesday, Mr. Grant admitted to engaging in a scheme that involved filing false insurance claims for more than $10,000. In the course of this scheme, the defendant falsified business records and claimed to have provided dental work that was never done.

Wednesday’s guilty pleas are expected to force Mr. Grant out of his position as the treasurer of the Hempstead School Board.

ADA Christine Sullivan of the District Attorney’s Public Corruption Bureau is handling the case. Mr. Grant is being represented by Henry Kutner Jr., Esq.