Ex-director of center arraigned
BALLSTON SPA, N.Y. » Sean P. Flaherty, the former executive director of the Shenendehowa Senior Citizens Center in Clifton Park, on Wednesday entered a not guilty plea to all charges in a 12 count indictment handed up last week by the Saratoga District Attorney’s office.
Flaherty, 42, was indicted Feb. 20 on four felony charges related to alleged monetary thefts totaling more than $50,000 from the senior citizen organization.
The indictment charges him with one count of grand larceny, three counts of falsifying business records, four counts of offering a false instrument for filing , and four counts of criminal tax fraud.
After Flaherty entered his not guilty plea to the charges, Saratoga County Assistant District Attorney Sarah Leszczynski asked to have his bail increased from $10,000 to $25,000 cash or $50,000 bond.
She told the judge that since Flaherty’s initial arrest and appearance in Clifton Park Town Court last March the amount he is alleged to have taken has increased substantially. Where it was thought he had taken around $140,000, the figure is now believed to be more than $250,000.
Leszczynski also asked that Flaherty surrender his passport and not leave the jurisdiction of the court.
Flaherty’s attorney, Ryan Cooke, countered that his client has never failed to appear in court when asked, has no prior criminal record, works locally, and is not rich.
Any additional bail or bond, Cooke said, could affect his living standard,
Flaherty is believed to work in the entertainment business.
Murphy noted “a significant change in the circumstances” since Flaherty’s appearance in town court and said the risk of flight was great. He agreed with the prosecution’s requests and asked Flaherty to surrender, what he had described as an expired passport, and set bail at what was requested.
Murphy noted that on a charge of grand larceny in the second-degree, if one were to go to trial and lose they could be facing a sentence of five to 15 years in jail.
He also made note that 10 counts in the indictment are the result of investigative collaboration with the New York State Taxation and Finance Department. Each of those counts, Murphy said, carries with it a possible sentence, if one is found guilty, of one and one third to four years in state prison with the sentences to be served consecutively.
Flaherty was remanded to Saratoga County Jail by the judge.
However, he was able to post bail shortly after appearing in court.
When asked as he left the courthouse if he had taken the money as is alleged, Flaherty said he did not. He refused all other questions.
Afterward, Saratoga County District Attorney Karen Heggen said her office’s investigation found that since Flaherty’s arrest in 2016 the dollar amount he is alleged to have taken from the senior center has increased significantly.
“The documents that were turned over to the defense today indicate that we’re alleging he took more than $250,000 over the course of time from the senior center,” she said.
Heggen would not speculate about how the senior center may have used the money.
“We have worked collaboratively with the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance and 10 of the charges in the indictment are reflective of charges alleging Mr. Flaherty not complying with the law as it relates to payment of income tax, and filing of false documentation because he’s not disclosing the amounts we’re alleging he took,” Heggen said.
Her office, she said, alleges the grand larceny of the senior center funds took place between 2013 and 2016.
“We are alleging this was a long standing process, not one lump sum but over a long period of time,” she said. “We are alleging that as a result of that, he failed to fulfilled obligations he has with taxing organizations and made misrepresentations of his income to them.”
On the issue of the increase in bail , Heggen said bail is used to ensure someone’s appearance in court, not as punishment.
“We thought it was a just amount,” she said.
Flaherty’s trial was set for July 16.
Heggen said she met with many of the people from the senior center last summer to give them an idea of how long the case would take. Much of the time spent on the investigation, she said, had to do with pouring over financial records.