NEW YORK (1010 WINS) — The former president of a Queens elementary school parent teacher association is charged with stealing tens of thousands of dollars from the school to use on personal excursions and expenses, prosecutors announced on Wednesday.
Athena Gonzalez, 33, was arraigned on Tuesday on charges of grand larceny and criminal possession of stolen property.
Prosecutors said that Gonzalez was the president of the PTA at P.S. 166, the Henry Gradstein School in Astoria, in July 2023.
According to the charges, on or about Dec. 11, 2023, a check for $1,564.87 was drawn from the PTA’s Connect One Bank account and deposited into her Discover account.
Between April 2 and July 26 the following year, Gonzalez allegedly deposited six more checks—in amounts between $3,500 and $10,000—into her bank account.
The total amount of the seven checks was $41,315.87, prosecutors said.
Gonzalez made purchases at Six Flags Great Adventure in New Jersey, Kalahari Resorts water park in Pennsylvania, smoke shops, nail salons, Starbucks, Sephora, Total Wines, Petco and other businesses, and used funds on gambling apps, for Airbnb reservations and to pay for identity theft protection.
On June 18, 2024, she allegedly used a PTA-associated debit card to pay the $1,236 bill for medical treatment her pet received at a Nassau County veterinary clinic. She also allegedly stole another $1,120 that was intended to be deposited into the PTA bank account.
“For more than nine months, she used the organization as her own personal checking account and ultimately stole more than $41,000,” Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz said. “This money was raised by P.S. 166 families to help the school and its students. My office will work to restore those funds and hold this defendant accountable for her breach of trust.”
Gonzalez will return to court on Dec. 3 and if convicted faces a maximum sentence of 2 1/3 to seven years in prison, prosecutors said.