440G ‘embezzle’ at SI DA’s Office
A cigar-chomping worker in the Staten Island District Attorney’s Office spent the past 10 years embezzling nearly half a million dollars — using it to treat himself to pricey Cuban stogies and boozy jaunts, officials said Thursday.
Authorities initially thought William Nelson had siphoned off about $50,000, then, thanks to his social-media posts, realized he had swiped more than $440,000 over 10 years, investigators said.
In one damning Instagram photo, Nelson, 44, displayed a golf course at Disney World and captioned it, “Better than being in the office,’’ city Department of Investigation records show.
In another posting, he is apparently holding a smoke and again hitting the links, writing, “Perfect day for a quick 9 with my boys and a great cigar’’ and “#living the dream.”
Nelson was the office’s chief procurement officer, buying supplies and reviewing expenses, authorities said.
Investigators say that over the past decade, he used office credit cards to go on his wild spending spree, including plunking down $72,000 on vacations, $99,000 at Amazon.com, $13,000 for tickets to pro sports events and $100,000 for a knife collection.
He allegedly hid the purchases by classifying them as “special expenditures,” which are subject to less scrutiny because they are “used for payment of confidential expenditures, such as witness protection, paid informants, and surveillance operations,” according to DOI.
Nelson resigned in December 2016 and was arrested in June.
He pleaded not guilty Thursday to one count of theft of funds and nine counts of mail fraud in Brooklyn federal court.
Nelson was released on a $500,000 bond secured against his parents’ Staten Island home.
The parents and his lawyer, Patrick Brackley, declined comment.