Former nonprofit executive pleads guilty to embezzlement

In her plea before Onondaga County Court Judge Thomas Miller, Goddard admitted to stealing $650,809.32 from H.O.M.E. from January 2014 through September 2018. She has agreed to repay the stolen amount in restitution to the Office of the Attorney General’s (OAG) Medicaid Fraud Control Unit (MFCU), which will return the funds to H.O.M.E.

Goddard will be sentenced May 13.

“Stealing public funds that are intended for New York’s neediest residents is as shameful as it is unlawful,” James said. “Medicaid funds are intended to help serve our state’s most vulnerable communities, but Shirley Goddard defrauded this program and illegally pocketed hundreds of thousands of dollars. To be clear, my office has zero tolerance for this type of fraud, which is why we will hold accountable, to the fullest extend of the law, all those who seek to illegally profit from the state and off the backs of our most vulnerable residents.”

In addition to the criminal charges, OAG’s Charities Bureau filed a civil lawsuit against the Goddards seeking recovery of the funds as well as other misappropriated charitable assets and seeks a permanent bar prohibiting the Goddards from holding any fiduciary role in a charitable or nonprofit organization in New York.