Waldman Allegedly Stole Cash From School District Supervisors’ Collective Bargaining Unit
Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice has announced that a former assistant principal at Sewanhaka High School has been arraigned on grand larceny and official misconduct charges after he was charged with stealing $113,000 from the collective bargaining unit he acted as treasurer for.
Gerald Waldman, 59, of Huntington, was arrested by DA investigators and charged with second-degree grand larceny and five misdemeanor counts of official misconduct. Waldman faces up to 15 years in prison if convicted. He was released on his own recognizance and is due back in court March 2.
Rice said between Nov. 12, 2004 and May 3, 2010, Waldman served as the treasurer for the Sewanhaka Central High School District Department Chairperson’s Association, the collective bargaining unit for the chairpersons in the school district.
Rice explained that Waldman’s position gave him unrestricted access to the Chairperson’s Association bank account, which is funded by contributions from its members, whose dues were deposited into the account by the Sewanhaka School District. These funds were then used to pay the School Administrators Association of New York State (SAANYS), which represented the Chairperson’s Association in its dealings with the Sewanhaka School District.
Waldman used the account’s funds to steal more than $113,000 by writing 136 checks to cash and one to himself and he used the cash to pay his credit card bills and personal expenses.
According to the DA, Waldman was promoted to assistant principal at Sewanhaka High School in July 2007 after serving as a business teacher at the school since 1981. The loss was uncovered in June 2010 when Waldman started inexplicably bouncing checks and caused major delays in the payment of the Chairperson’s Association dues to SAANYS, Rice stated. He resigned his position with the school district shortly thereafter.
“This is the utmost betrayal by a man entrusted to educate our young people and to represent his colleagues honorably,” Rice said. “Instead, he failed them both by using his position to fatten his own wallet.”
Assistant District Attorney William Jorgensen of the Public Corruption Bureau is prosecuting the case for the DA’s Office. Waldman is represented by Jeffrey Waller, Esq.
