A union worker hired to manage the finances took a little off the top by cashing more than 300 fraudulent checks from the Long Island trade union over the span of six years, prosecutors announced Friday.
Charges allege the 40-year-old Westbury woman started issuing herself checks from the accounts of Local 713 International Brotherhood of Trade Union, based out of Garden City, approximately one year into the job.
Between June 2015 and August 2021, Nassau County prosecutors said Jennifer Jira wrote an estimated 384 checks totaling $123,468. The bookkeeper got away with cashing around 300 of those checks before her alleged scheme got busted.
District Attorney Anne Donnelly said Jira attempted to cover-up the checks by making false entries in the union's accounting records. But her enterprise was found out one year ago.
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Last August, prosecutors said union officials conducted an audit of its bank accounts after discovering an unauthorized check. The bookkeeper was fired a few weeks later.
“Slowly, over a period of years, the defendant allegedly leveraged her access to Local 713’s financial accounts to siphon more than $120,000 from its coffers, using the funds to pay for living expenses, clothing, and utilities,” said DA Donnelly.
The checks, prosecutors said, ranged in amounts between $64 and $1,230.87.
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Jira was arraigned before a judge Thursday on charges of grand larceny and falsifying business records. She pleaded not guilty and was released on her own recognizance.
Attorney contact information for the bookkeeper was not immediately available.
