Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance, Jr., today announced the arrest of ANITA COLLINS, 67, for stealing more than $1,000,000 from the Archdiocese of New York.  The defendant has been charged in New York County Criminal Court with Grand Larceny in the First Degree and Falsifying Business Records in the First Degree.[1] The investigation into this case is continuing.

“This defendant is accused of stealing from the Archdiocese for seven and a half long years,” said District Attorney Vance. “It appears that she only stopped because she finally got caught. I would like to thank the Archdiocese for detecting the initial fraud, referring the matter to my Office, and for its full cooperation throughout the investigation.”

According to the felony complaint, COLLINS began working for the Archdiocese in 2003 as an Accounts Payable Clerk in their Department of Education.  Her responsibilities included processing invoices, issuing checks, and making payments to vendors. Between July 2004 and December 2011, COLLINS is charged with stealing approximately $1,073,000 from the Archdiocese by making and issuing more than 450 checks payable to “KB Collins.” COLLINS generated the unauthorized checks by entering a legitimate vendor’s name into the accounting system, changing the vendor’s name and the payee on the check to “KB Collins,” printing the check, then changing the vendor’s name back to the legitimate one in the system so the unauthorized checks to COLLINS would remain undetected.  The “KB Collins” checks were deposited into accounts that the defendant controlled.

Assistant District Attorney Amy Justiniano is prosecuting this case, under the supervision of Special Prosecutions Bureau Chief Thomas Wornom and Deputy Bureau Chiefs Judy Salwen and Archana Rao.  Financial Investigator Vincent Jones of the District Attorney’s Forensic Accounting and Financial Investigations Bureau assisted in the investigation, as did Detective Anthony Pasquariello of the District Attorney’s Office Detective Squad, under the supervision of Captain Joseph Del Duca. Assistant District Attorney Duncan Levin, Chief of the Asset Forfeiture Unit, is handling the financial recovery aspects of the case.

Defendant information:

ANITA COLLINS, D.O.B. 1/1/1945

Bronx, NY

Charges:

• Grand Larceny in the First Degree, a class B felony, one count
• Falsifying Business Records in the First Degree, a class E felony, one count