FORMER SCHOOL CHIEF IN NY ADMITS TO STEALING

This is messed up. Frank Tassone is scum and should get more than his plea bargin of 4 to 12 years. He deserves at least 20 years for abusing his office and role of public servant and educator to children.

For years, ex-Roslyn schools chief Frank Tassone admited, he stole millions of dollars in taxpayer money to finance everything from his breakfast bagel to European jaunts on the Concorde. His next big journey on the taxpayers' dime will be to prison.

Tassone, 58, of Manhattan, pleaded guilty Monday to first- and second-degree grand larceny before Nassau County Judge Alan Honorof in a scandal that state Comptroller Alan Hevesi has called "the largest, most remarkable, most extraordinary theft" from a school system in American history.

As part of a plea bargain, Tassone will spend four to 12 years in prison and pay back an estimated $2 million. If convicted at trial, he could have faced 25 years.

Four other people have been charged. Prosecutors have said they anticipate further arrests, and Tassone will cooperate in the continuing investigation as part of his plea deal, District Attorney Denis Dillon said.

About 50 district residents booed as Tassone entered the courtroom. Many, including former school board president William Costigan, said afterward they were dissatisfied with the penalty Tassone was promised.

"I think he should serve the maximum sentence," Costigan said, although he conceded he was glad to see Tassone "admit in open court that his actions had caused pain and suffering. … We have become the poster boys for school scandals." (full article)