Prosecutors: Queens Charity Operator Misused Funds To Pay For Lavish Luxuries
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- A woman who ran a nonprofit that helped the disabled in Queens was hit Wednesday with charges of using public money to pay for her lavish lifestyle.
The U.S. Attorney's Office said Yolanda Vitulli, 52 – formerly of Merrick, Long Island and now of Mohnton, Pennsylvania, was indicted by a federal grand jury in Brooklyn on a charge of theft from a program receiving federal funds.
Between January 2001 and May of this year, Vitulli served as the executive director of Queens-based Tender Care Human Services Inc., which provided services to people with autism and other developmental disabilities throughout the New York City metro area, prosecutors said.
Tender Care received about $3 million in federal and New York State Medicaid funding every year, prosecutors said.
Prosecutors alleged that Vitulli used the charity's funds to pay for maids, nannies, a personal spa, and a Bahama Spas hot tub, which promises to "bring a sense of vacation to your backyard and a sense of serenity to your life."
She also allegedly upgraded her home with a new dishwasher, security camera system, fencing, and bedroom furniture from Ethan Allen promoted as "icons of livable luxury," prosecutors said.
"The defendant allegedly stole public funds meant for the developmentally disabled in order to subsidize her own life of luxury," Leahy Scott said in a news release. "This indictment should serve as warning to any officers and agents of charitable providers who exploit taxpayer funds intended for critical public services; they will be identified, apprehended, and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law."
Vitulli was due back in Brooklyn federal court on Friday, prosecutors said.
