September 8, 2005

DILLON ANNOUNCES:

INDICTMENT OF ROSLYN SCHOOL DISTRICT AUDITOR

Nassau County District Attorney Denis Dillon announced today that Andrew Miller, 56, of 50 Jefferson Landing Circle, Port Jefferson, has been indicted by a Grand Jury and arrested in connection with the Roslyn School District Financial Scandal. Miller is a former Partner of Miller, Lilly & Pearce, LLP, Certified Public Accountants, and was the audit partner for the Roslyn Union Free School District.

According to Dillon, "On February 11, 2004 my office opened an investigation into the Roslyn School District. On February 23, 2004, Frank Tassone (58, of 160 E. 88th Street, Manhattan) became aware of my office’s active investigation into the Roslyn School District. It was at that point that Tassone contacted Andrew Miller, from Miller, Lilly & Pearce and asked for his assistance in ‘cleaning up’ the school districts financial records. On the evening of February 25, 2004 Miller went to the Roslyn School District’s Accounting Department and changed the names of fifteen (15) vendors on the District’s computer system. Miller substituted the names of legitimate Roslyn School District vendors to replace the names of the actual financial institutions paid by the district. The actual financial institutions were paid for the various personal expenses of Tassone, Pamela Gluckin (former Assistant Superintendent, 59, of 2850 Lee Place, Bellmore) and Debra Rigano (former Account Clerk, 46, of 227 Jensen Avenue, Mamaroneck, New York). For example, Chase Bank was changed to EDC Publishing; Citibank became Nassau County BOCES; MBNA was changed to MacMillen Publishing; American Express became Sargent-Welch, and First USA was changed to Fischer Educational."

"Miller was familiar with the Roslyn School District computer software, which was created by a company called Finance Manager, of which Miller was a founder and a 45% stockholder," said Dillon.

"As a consequence of changing these names, any records that were generated from the Roslyn School District computer system from that point forward would show the false names instead of the actual parties to whom the payments had been made, even if they contained historical information appearing to predate the changes," said Dillon.

On March 23, 2004, Miller provided the DA’s office with eight (8) false documents which were generated from the Roslyn School District computer system after the vendors’ names had been changed. There were three (3) Roslyn School District Cash Disbursements Listings for the following periods: 7/1/00-6/30/01; 7/1/01-6/30/02; 7/1/02-10/16/02. The cash disbursement listings were also falsified to indicate that they had been printed on October 16, 2002, which was long before any of the vendors’ names had been changed on the computer system. That was the date on which Andrew Miller and his staff ‘audited’ Pamela Gluckin’s expenses immediately prior to her termination and concluded that she had stolen only $250,000.

Miller also gave the DA’s office what purported to be historical Miller, Lilly & Pearce, LLP documents relating to Roslyn School District audit work, but which reflected the February 25, 2004 alterations. There were three (3) Miller, Lilly & Pearce Judgmental Expenditure Testing documents for the fiscal years ending 6/30/01, 6/30/02 and 6/30/03; and two (2) Miller, Lilly, & Pearce Statistical Sample Over $25,000 records for the fiscal years ending 6/30/01 and 6/30/02.

During the summer of 2004, the New York State Comptroller Alan Hevesi conducted an audit of Miller, Lilly, & Pearce’s services to the Roslyn School District. On August 18, 2004, Miller provided Hevesi’s office with three (3) similar false documents. He gave them a Judgmental Expenditure Testing document for the fiscal year ending 6/30/02, which also omitted certain entries in the supposedly identical document that he had given to the DA’s office. He also gave them a Judgmental Expenditure Testing document for the fiscal year ending 6/30/03 that was identical to the false one that he gave to the DA’s Office. Lastly, he gave them a Statistical Sample for the fiscal year ending 6/30/03 that purported to be the same as one he had given the DA’s Office, but that in fact omitted two (2) true entries that had been falsified in the version the DA’s Office received.

"Our indictment consists of 26 counts," said Dillon. "The first three (3) counts, Tampering with Public Records in the 1st Degree, a Class D Felony, refer to the three (3) altered Cash Disbursement Listings given to our office. The next ten (10) counts of Falsifying Business Records in the 1st Degree, a Class E Felony, pertain to the ten (10) distinct documents (one of the items received by both offices was identical) that Miller gave to the New York State Comptroller’s Office and my office. The following ten (10) counts of Tampering with Physical Evidence, a Class E Felony, refer to the same documents. The last three (3) counts, Offering a False Instrument for Filing in the 1st Degree, also a Class E Felony, pertain to the three (3) false documents presented by Miller to the New York State Comptroller’s Office in connection with their audit."

"It is alarming to me that an accounting firm that was responsible for the auditing of over 50 school districts on Long Island would so flagrantly disregard the law," said Dillon. "Their duty was to protect the Roslyn community from corrupt school officials. Instead Miller helped Frank Tassone, Pamela Gluckin and Debra Rigano hide their criminal actions."

"This type of public corruption is outrageous and will not be tolerated," Dillon continued. "Miller, Tassone, Gluckin and Rigano have violated the public’s trust and will be held accountable. Currently, Tassone, Gluckin and Rigano have been indicted by a Grand Jury and are awaiting trial. We estimate that Gluckin is responsible for the theft of approximately $4 Million, Tassone is responsible for the theft of approximately $2 Million, and Rigano is responsible for the theft of approximately $780,000, all from the Roslyn School District. In addition, Stephen Signorelli, a former Roslyn School Vendor, of 160 E. 88th Street, Manhattan was indicted by a Grand Jury in June of 2005 for padding invoices with the assistance of Tassone."

"Andrew Miller was hired to protect the people of Roslyn. Instead, he tried to cover up the remarkable $11.2 million looting of the school district. I thank D.A. Dillon and his staff for their excellent work following up on our audit findings. We are working closely with D. A. Dillon in this and other circumstances to restore the confidence of the parents and taxpayers of Long Island," said New York State Comptroller Alan G. Hevesi.

"Nassau County is an expensive place to live and raise a family and corruption such as this just adds to the public’s tax burden," said Dillon. "My Civil Forfeiture Unit has been, and will continue to work diligently to seek restitution for the taxpayers of the Roslyn School District."

"I would like to thank New York State Comptroller Alan Hevesi and his staff for their assistance during the course of this investigation," said Dillon. "We look forward to continuing to work with the State Comptroller’s Office in the near future."

"We are continuing our investigation," said Dillon. "Miller will be arraigned later today by Nassau County Court Judge Jerald Carter in Mineola. The D Felonies he is charged with are punishable by up to seven (7) years in prison and the E Felonies are punishable by up to four (4) years in prison."

The charges are merely accusations, and the defendants are presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.