NEW YORK
New York Post
By LAURA ITALIANO
A Manhattan judge today chided prosecutors for offering only 4 1/2 years prison to an allegedly embezzling former clerk for the Diocese of New York, calling the $1 million embezzlement “not only a crime, but a sin.”
“How come you went down?” Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Lewis Bart Stone asked after prosecutors announced their latest rock-bottom offer — 4 1/2 to 9 years prison — for accused accounts payable clerk Anita Collins.
Back in April, prosecutors had said they’d go no lower than six years prison for Collins, 69, who is charged with taking the money over the course of seven years, filling her Schuylerville, Bronx, apartment with Bloomingdales furniture, Belleek China and pricey Madam Alexander dolls.
“This is a woman who has stolen more than a million dollars from a not-for-profit religious organization,” the judge told prosecutors.
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