Plainview Man Pleads Guilty to Fleecing Little League

Green admits stealing more than $38k from Little League; expected to receive 16 weekends in jail

MINEOLA, NY – Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice announced today that a Plainview man has pleaded guilty to the embezzlement of more than $38,000 from the Plainview youth baseball league.

Joseph Green, 56, pleaded guilty in Nassau County court to Grand Larceny in the Third Degree, the top charge he was facing as the result of his January 28, 2008 arrest. Judge Alan Honorof said he expects to sentence Green to 16 weekends in jail at his August 27 court appearance.

Rice said that between November 1, 2005, and July 17, 2007, the defendant, in his capacity as the uniform and equipment director of the Plainview Baseball Association, stole $38,160.29 from the Association by stealing blank invoices from Port Jefferson Sporting Goods and filling them out with fictitious equipment orders that were allegedly being placed by the Association. Rice said that on 10 different occasions the defendant submitted the bogus invoices and that he would cash the league’s reimbursement checks and deposit the funds directly into his personal bank account. The league never received the equipment they believed that they were purchasing.

In the fall of 2007, league officials who became aware of the financial discrepancy within the Association confronted Green and forced him step down from his volunteer position. In October 2007, the allegation was referred to the District Attorney’s Office for criminal investigation.

Rice said that Green spent the money on normal household items, in addition to several thousand dollars in college expenses.

Assistant District Attorney Megan Gallagher and Bureau Chief of the DA’s Government & Consumer Frauds Bureau, Robert Emmons, are handling the case for the District Attorney’s Office. Green is being represented by David Lazer, Esq., of Melville.