New York Nursery School Director Stole $40K from Church

The former director of a Levittown nursery school was arrested Wednesday for allegedly stealing more than $41,000 from the church that runs the school and using the cash to pay for trips, property taxes and credit card bills, Nassau County prosecutors said.

Gail Vokoun, 58, of East Meadow, was charged with grand larceny and falsifying business records. She is scheduled to be arraigned Wednesday at First District Court in Hempstead.
Between August 2007 and September 2009, Vokoun, who was the director of the First Presbyterian Church of Levittown’s nursery school for 15 years, stole $41,489 from the school through unauthorized credit card purchases and by writing checks to herself from the school’s bank account, prosecutors said.
The theft was suspected by a member of the church’s clergy, who confronted Vokoun. She allegedly admitted to stealing $20,000, but an independent audit and investigation alleged that she stole more than twice that amount, prosecutors said.
Vokoun used the money to pay her property taxes, cable and phone bills, car insurance, dinners, hotel reservations and trips to the florist, prosecutors said. She resigned in September 2009.