N.Y. officials: Martin woman took $152K from youth charity
A southern Martin County woman is accused of embezzling more than $150,000 from a charity intended to benefit a New York-based youth hockey and ice skating program.
Tina Ruggiero, 55, spent the money on cars, restaurants, nail salons, hotels, movie theaters and other personal expenses, the Nassau County, N.Y., District Attorney’s Office said in charging her with second-degree grand larceny.
Ruggiero, a former Nassau County resident now living just north of the Palm Beach County border, was extradited to New York on May 31 following her arrest by the Martin County Sheriff ’s Office. She was released on her own recognizance during an arraignment Monday in New York. Her next court date is scheduled for July 9.
If convicted, Ruggiero would face five to 15 years in prison.
Authorities said she is the principal of the Ruggiero Strong Family Foundation, a registered charitable organization.
In August 2015, she agreed to organize a celebrity golf outing for the Peconic Hockey Foundation on Long Island to raise money for its youth programs and possibly the construction of a hockey rink in Suffolk County. She was to be paid $15,000 and was instructed to put the money the outing raised into a specified bank account.
Between August 2015 and January 2016, Ruggiero collected $208,303.55 and paid $55,552.20 in expenses associated with the golf outing, authorities said.
Instead of paying the net proceeds to the hockey charity, she allegedly embezzled the remaining $152,751 and used it for the personal expenses, authorities said.