Bronx woman charged with writing fraudulent checks from East Lyme school board account
Dec. 28—EAST LYME — A Bronx, N.Y. woman has been charged with writing $104,510 in fraudulent checks utilizing banking information from the town's Board of Education account, according to an incident summary and arrest warrant affidavit from East Lyme police.
Last week, the New York City Police Department took Heidi Cecilio, 28, into custody. On Tuesday, East Lyme police officers went to New York to return her to Connecticut where she is now charged with first-degree larceny. Her bond was set at $10,000 and she is scheduled to appear in New London Superior Court on Jan. 10.
Police said their investigation continues and more arrests are anticipated with Chief Michael Finkelstein confirming Tuesday that police have another arrest warrant.
Finkelstein said police don't know how the woman got the banking information for the school board account. But he said there's "absolutely no indication" that any current or past town employee was involved.
He said it's not uncommon for people to "try to scam bank information that is just sold on the internet or through groups, and unfortunately, it takes just one person getting a canceled check or whatever and giving that information out."
An arrest warrant affidavit from East Lyme Police Officer William Bergantino shows seven checks totaling $104,510 with "Heidi Cecilia" as the payee, and two checks totaling $28,830 with two other payees. The reason for the discrepancy in the spelling of Cecilio's last name is unclear.
The affidavit said that of the $104,510, Cecilio "successfully drew upon the Town of East Lyme the amount of $74,650" and attempted to draw another $29,860.
"We're going to make all the attempts possible to try and recover the money," First Selectman Kevin Seery said Tuesday. "We've talked to our insurer and so forth and things like that, but we don't have a finite answer on that yet."
Seery said the town has put additional measures in place as a result of this incident. For a check that isn't a usual check, the bank will consult with the town before honoring it.
On May 18, the town's director of finance at the time called police to report fraudulent checks being cashed on the town's Board of Education account, according to the affidavit.
The finance director said while doing a bank reconciliation in March, staff discovered four checks not issued by the Board of Education that were cashed fraudulently.
Staff then discovered another fraudulent check in April, notified Webster Bank, and got reimbursement from the bank where the check was cashed. In May, staff discovered more checks that cleared outside of the number ranges assigned to the Board of Education and town.
The finance director at the time was Anna Johnson, and Kevin Gervais became finance director in the late summer. Gervais could not be reached for comment Tuesday and Seery said he was out sick.
The affidavit shows that seven checks were issued to "Heidi Cecilia" and signed "Heidi Cecilia" on the bank, and that JP Morgan Chase paid the fraudulent checks. These were not actual checks from the town but copies.
Bergantino wrote in the affidavit that the "overall design was similar" but he noticed differences in the Webster Bank logo and the visibility of the holographic security feature.
Bergantino learned from a JP Morgan investigator that the checks were deposited at an ATM less than a quarter-mile from Cecilio's address.
For most of the deposits of checks with Cecilia as the payee, the exact amount was then taken out of the account and sent to three accounts via wire transfer: a Bank of America account in Miami, Fla.; a TRUWEST Credit Union account in Scottsdale, Ariz.; and a Wells Fargo account in San Francisco, Calif. The affidavit listed a different person on each account.
