Crime & Safety

Woman Stole $35,000 From School Lunch Program: DA

The former food services employee hacked a restricted computer to siphon cash for her personal use, according to the Westchester County District Attorney's office.

A 39-year-old Yonkers woman, who formerly worked in food services at Mount Vernon High School, pled guilty Tuesday to stealing more than $35,000 from the school system by manipulating computer program that monitored the food program.


Karen Velasquez, of 181 Sedgwick Ave., pled guilty to one count of Grand Larceny in the Third Degree, a class “D” felony, according to the Westchester County District Attorney’s office. She faces a maximum of up to seven years in prison when sentenced on March 11, 2014.


Velasquez worked for the food services company Aramark and was assigned to the high school on California Road in Mount Vernon. According to the DA’s office, from September 2010 to January 2011 is when Velasquez stole the money.

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To do so, Velasquez accessed the edit program of the food service’s restricted “master computer” and used it “to falsely reflect lower cash receipts” from the district’s 16 schools, “thereby enabling [her] to withhold cash on a regular basis, which she then kept for her own personal use.”


The case was prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Brian Conway, Deputy Bureau Chief of the Public Integrity Bureau.

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