The former executive director of Hornell Partners for Growth has pleaded guilty to a grand larceny charge, according to state officials.
The State Comptrollers’ Office reports that Michelle Stevens, the former executive of Hornell Partners pleaded guilty to a fourth-degree grand larceny charge. She was accused of stealing $1,711 in cash from the non-profit’s annual Fourth of July festival.
The money was earmarked for the city’s Business Improvement District.
She was also previously accused of falsifying business records, claiming that she distributed additional festival cash to local charities, but instead deposited it into her personal accounts.
Sentencing is scheduled a year from now on January 3, 2023.
Stevens was an employee of HPG from 2014 to 2018 and resigned from another official position in the town of Almond last spring.
“Stevens betrayed her responsibility to the public by lining her own pockets with money that was meant to help her community,” DiNapoli said. “Thanks to my partnership with Steuben County D.A. Baker and the State Police she was held accountable for her actions.”
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