New York Woman Pleads Guilty To Stealing Over $1 Million From Cemetery

Via NYDailyNews

A Brooklyn woman used money from a Staten Island cemetery to treat herself to fancy meals, trips and concerts, officials said.

Ilana Friedman, 51, a former director at United Hebrew Cemetery, admitted to stealing almost $1 million from the cemetery over a six-year period.

A source familiar with the case said she used the cash — some of which was intended to be spent on headstones — on everything from groceries at Costco to “Mary Poppins” tickets.

Friedman pleaded guilty to grand larceny in Staten Island Supreme Court Tuesday, while she and her husband — the cemetery’s former president — struck a deal with the state attorney general’s office to pay $1.1 million in restitution. Both he and his wife are barred from the cemetery and funeral business.

“The Friedmans abused their posts at this Staten Island cemetery to enrich themselves,” and “will now pay for their shameless misconduct,” Attorney General Eric Schneiderman said.