SYRACUSE, N.Y. — A Syracuse man who stole almost $22,000 in pension payments sent to his deceased mother was recently sentenced to serve five years’ probation and ordered to pay full restitution. That’s according to a Sept. 3 announcement by New York State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli, Onondaga County District Attorney William J. Fitzpatrick, and […]
SYRACUSE, N.Y. — A Syracuse man who stole almost $22,000 in pension payments sent to his deceased mother was recently sentenced to serve five years’ probation and ordered to pay full restitution.
That’s according to a Sept. 3 announcement by New York State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli, Onondaga County District Attorney William J. Fitzpatrick, and New York State Police Superintendent Steven G. James.
The defendant, Michael Glinski, 45, was arrested this past January, following an investigation by DiNapoli’s office. Glinski pled guilty to grand larceny in the third degree in May. His Sept. 3 sentencing was in Onondaga County Court before Judge Mary Anne Doherty.
“Michael Glinski concealed his mother’s death to defraud our pension system. We will continue our work to track down and bring to justice those who try to defraud the pension system which our retired public employees and their beneficiaries rely upon,” DiNapoli said in the announcement. “My thanks to DA Fitzpatrick and Superintendent James for their partnership in holding the defendant accountable.”
Glinski’s mother received a monthly pension check after retiring from her job as a clerk with the Village of Solvay Police Department in August 2014. She had also received her deceased husband’s pension payment as a beneficiary since 2019. When she died in October 2021, both payments should have stopped, but Glinski hid her death from the New York State and Local Retirement System, which discovered that she was deceased in July 2022. Her payments then stopped, and an investigation was launched, according to the comptroller’s office.
DiNapoli’s investigation determined that Glinski had deposited 17 pension checks written to his mother, totaling $21,946.36, into his personal bank account by endorsing the checks using a power of attorney, which he knew had expired by law at the time of his mother’s death.
