Former Treasurer of Carle Place Firemen’s Benevolent Association Charged with Nearly $500,000 Theft
Nassau County District Attorney Anne T. Donnelly announced that the former treasurer of the Carle Place Volunteer & Exempt Fireman’s Benevolent Association was arraigned today on charges he embezzled $490,000 from the non-profit organization between January 2013 and September 2023.
John Shellock, 84, of Westbury, was arraigned today before Judge Madeleine Petrara-Perrin on one count of Grand Larceny in the Second Degree (a C felony). The defendant was released to pre-trial services. If convicted, the defendant faces up to five to 15 years in prison. He is due back in court on August 15, 2024.
“For three decades this defendant was entrusted with securing the Carle Place Firemen’s Benevolent Association’s financial health and ensuring firefighters and their families were provided relief at their most difficult moments,” said DA Donnelly. “But for the last ten years, John Shellock allegedly treated the organization’s coffers like a personal checking account, writing checks to himself and paying off credit card debts, stealing a total of nearly half a million dollars of their funds while undermining the Benevolent Association’s mission.”
DA Donnelly said that on October 10, 2023, the President of the Carle Place Volunteer & Exempt Fireman’s Benevolent Association (“the Benevolent Association”) contacted the Nassau County Police Department alleging that the defendant had embezzled funds from the organization. NCDA then opened a formal investigation.
The defendant, the treasurer of the Benevolent Association since the early 1990s, was responsible for the checking account and investment account of the organization.
The Benevolent Association provides relief, aid, and financial assistance to disabled or indigent members of the Carle Place Fire Department, in addition to providing funds for deceased members’ funerals.
The organization is funded by dues paid by its members and from Foreign Fire Insurance Funds, a two-percent tax on the premiums of fire insurance policies imposed by New York State. These funds are distributed by the state to fire service entities, including fire departments and benevolent associations.
According to the Benevolent Association’s bylaws, for checks to be written from the organization’s checking account two signatures are required – the Treasurer’s signature along with that of the President or Vice President.
Between January 2013 and September 2023, the defendant allegedly used his access to the Benevolent Association’s bank accounts to write checks to himself, forging the required co-signature.
Shellock allegedly deposited many of the checks he wrote to himself into a Bank of America account he opened for the Benevolent Association that was not known to current leadership. The defendant would then write checks to himself from that account and cash those checks with a Capital One Bank where he had a personal account.
The defendant also allegedly wrote checks to credit card companies to pay his personal bills.
Throughout the course of the alleged scheme, the defendant stole approximately $490,000 from the Benevolent Association.
The defendant surrendered today to NCDA Detective Investigators.
The case is being prosecuted by Senior Investigative Counsel Jennifer Boyle of the Public Corruption Bureau under the supervision of Bureau Chief Kristen Fexas and the overall supervision of the Executive Assistant District Attorney for the Investigations Division Rick Whelan. The defendant is represented by the Legal Aid Society.
The charges are merely accusations, and the defendant is presumed innocent until and unless found guilty.