Girl Scouts Official Stole Over $300,000, Pled Guilty to Grand Larceny

By Bianca Coombs, Christian Post Contributor Wednesday, January 11, 2012

A Girl Scouts of Greater New York employee has pleaded guilty to the charge of second-degree grand larceny after pilfering over $300,000 in organization funds.

The former director of finance, Yasmin Hooey, admitted to spending thousands of the non-profit’s money on private needs, including a gym membership, transportation, clothes and cosmetic laser surgery from September 2008 to December 2010.

According to MSNBC.com, she admitted to spending $13,000 on a diamond ring and $18,000 in restaurants and bars. There were nine wire transfers made from two of the organizations bank accounts to Hooey's bank account. The wire transfers totaled $35,606, reported NBC when Hooey was arrested in October of 2011.

Hooey was also charged with falsifying business documents and criminal tax fraud. She did not file state personal income tax returns for the years 2008 and 2009, and deliberately excluded $142,077 she stole from the Girl Scouts in 2010.

“The defendant's charged crimes not only violated the trust of the Girl Scout organization, but the trust of the girls that the organization serves,” Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. said in a statement according to NBC.

“The District Attorney's Office will continue to aggressively investigate and prosecute crimes against nonprofit organizations,” he added.

At one point Hooey, 35, forged the signature of a past Girl Scouts of Greater New York CEO. She admitted to the forgery, saying she was able to write and sign 65 checks from the organizations payroll account to herself totaling over $270,000.

Hooey is due for sentencing in the New York Supreme Court in March for stealing $311,568.

"It was an enormous violation of the trust the Scouts places in her as their director of finance, as well as the trust of the many girls that the organization serves," said Vance Jr. in a statement.

GirlScouts.org lists their mission as, “Girl Scouting builds girls of courage, confidence, and character, who make the world a better place.”

The organization was founded in 1912 to empower young girls to be active in their communities.