Morning Read I: Former ComLinks director charged with grand larceny
Nancy Reich was a fixture in the North Country for years, heading the ComLinks social service agency based in Malone. Yesterday, according to the Plattsburgh Press Republican, she was led into a Franklin County courtroom in handcuffs.
Former ComLinks Executive Director Nancy Reich has been indicted by a Franklin County grand jury on six counts, among them grand larceny and falsifying business records.
Reich, 64, of Paul Smiths also faces one count of fourth-degree grand larceny, four counts of first-degree falsifying business records and one count of first-degree offering a false instrument for filing.
Reich pleaded not guilty and was released without bail, though she was required to surrender her passport. She will be back in court in April.
Yesterday’s arraignment followed a scathing Comptroller’s report that accused Reich of using the non-profit’s funds to pay for her own lavish lifestyle.
Tags: franklin county, law enforcement
I’ve worked for NFPs for more than 30 years, never in any danger of becoming wealthy. We pay the people in the trenches poverty-level wages, because we don’t have the funding to pay them commensurate to the value of the job they do. Generally (and this is true in SLC, Jefferson, Albany and Schenectady counties, from personal experience), they can make more money flipping burgers than they can supporting people who need it.
When someone violates their trust, whether by stealing funds that should go to those served, or by giving themselves exhorbitant salaries or bennies, it hurts all who are trying to to the right thing.
Unfortunately, the thieves are the ones who have their stories told. The rest lead lives of quiet desperation, taking comfort in the services they provide.
String ‘er up.
Hopefully the clients, the vulnerable, the people that she is ultimately accused of stealing from are now better served.
Comlinks is essentially a government subcontractor; these are our tax dollars, who was responsible for oversight on the government side and from the board of directors? How could this have gone on for so long?
It is relatively astounding that the Board would have a person named in this investigation currently running this organization; this brings up a whole new set of questions about the Boards involvement.