The John Jay College of Criminal Justice employed a criminal right under its own nose — a bookkeeper who stole more than $700,000 meant for students, according to a bombshell indictment Tuesday.
Cadelie Neat, 60, an accounts-payable manager at the anti-crime-focused Manhattan public institution, sent herself more than 260 fraudulent checks purportedly made out to current and former enrollees in a stipend program, plus some fictional “students” she invented, court papers claim.
From December 2018 to this past April, the shifty accountant helped herself to a total of $710,000 in funds earmarked for members of the “APPLE Corps” program — which is designed for people exploring careers in law enforcement, authorities said. Students in the program earn a $15,000 stipend over four years.
Most of the illicit checks were mailed to Neat’s Suffolk County, LI, home before she deposited them into her personal bank accounts using Manhattan ATMs, according to Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.
Neat then allegedly used the stolen cash for personal expenses such as travel, dining and home repairs.
The allegedly crooked bookkeeper pleaded not guilty Tuesday afternoon to charges of grand larceny and identity theft and was released, as her charges are not eligible for bail. She faces up to 15 years in prison if convicted.
Authorities announced Neat’s arrest at a press conference alongside a separate case in which Andrea Williams, 47, a former accountant at the Harlem Children’s Zone Promise Academy Charter School, was charged with stealing more than $288,000 in a similar alleged fraud plot.
Williams and her partner in crime Cheryl Carr, 73, incorporated a fictional charter school with a nearly identical name to the Harlem school — but suspiciously based in Idaho — before illegally diverting checks for $141,551 and $146,978 meant for the school into their own pockets, court papers claim.
“These defendants engaged in elaborate schemes to allegedly divert taxpayer money from worthy programs into their own pockets,” said New York State Comptroller Tom DiNapoli, whose office tipped off the Manhattan DA’s office to the alleged schemes.
Carr and Williams were also released without bail after making their first appearances in Manhattan Supreme Court on Tuesday afternoon.
Lawyers listed as representing all three alleged fraudsters did not respond to Post requests for comment.
