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A former Hampton Bays Board of Education member who pleaded guilty to looting $55,000 from a scholarship fund established to honor his deceased friend will get to keep his job with the Hampton Bays Water District and will not face any disciplinary review, despite the objections of Southampton Town Supervisor Jay Schneiderman.
Mr. Schneiderman said Friday that while he was “very upset about the situation, and the behavior” of Warren Booth III, a lifelong resident of Hampton Bays, Mr. Booth cannot be fired or disciplined for his actions, because the theft of cash from the scholarship fund is unrelated to his work as one of two maintenance crew leaders for the Hampton Bays Water District, a town entity. He receives an annual salary of about $65,000.
“There’s no provision, apparently, under the law that will allow me to [terminate] employment, which would obviously be my desired course. It’s a little frustrating,” Mr. Schneiderman said. “I would like to dismiss him from employment … but his job does not involve the handling of money, it does not put him into a situation where his judgment would come into play. It had nothing to do with town employment,” he added, referring to the criminal charge.
“If I had the choice, I would fire him, absolutely, but I’m being advised that that is not a choice for me,” the supervisor continued.
Mr. Booth, who has declined to be interviewed, pleaded guilty on Friday, May 6, to one count of third-degree grand larceny, a felony, at Suffolk County Criminal Court in Riverhead, after admitting to stealing approximately $55,000 from the Arthur J. Jones Scholarship Fund. He helped create the fund several years prior to honor the memory of his best friend, who was killed in the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.
As part of his plea deal, Mr. Booth must repay the money he stole from the fund and also complete 840 hours of community service. He will remain on interim probation for a year as well, and is not expected to face any jail time.
If he stays out of trouble for the next year, Mr. Booth’s felony charge will be reduced to a misdemeanor count of petit larceny, according to his attorney, James F. Vlahadamis, a founding partner at Vlahadamis and Hillen LLP in Hampton Bays.
When reached on Monday, Mr. Vlahadamis also said he did not know where Mr. Booth would be performing his community service, as it is coordinated through the EAC Network, a not-for-profit human service agency that oversees programs in both Suffolk and Nassau counties, as well as New York City.
A representative from the organization’s community service program office in Hauppauge said Tuesday that she could not disclose such information about Mr. Booth.
Mr. Booth already volunteers with the Hampton Bays Fire Department—though Mr. Vlahadamis said he and Mr. Booth never explored the possibility of him completing his community service hours as a volunteer firefighter. “I know there’s a bunch of locations out here where he could potentially do it,” his attorney added.
Sandra Cirincione, the director of human resources for Southampton Town, explained last week that since Mr. Booth is part of a union—Southampton Town Civil Service Employees Association Unit 8756, Suffolk County Local 852—he cannot be fired for pleading guilty to a crime, even a felony, but that he could be put up for disciplinary review at the request of the Southampton Town Board.
Mr. Schneiderman said Friday, though, that after discussing the matter during an executive session the day before, it was determined that Mr. Booth’s crime is not related to his employment with the town, so further discipline was unwarranted.
The supervisor added, though, that if Mr. Booth is “ever up for promotion to a title that did involve the handling of money, this would certainly come into the conversation.”
Alyssa Melillo on May 13, 2016