Erie County District Attorney Frank A. Sedita, III announces that 43 year­- old Susan Elizabeth Johnson of Bowen Road in the Town of Elma pleaded guilty as charged to Grand Larceny in the Third Degree before State Supreme Court Justice Penny M. Wolfgang.  This is the highest charge for which the defendant could have been convicted had she gone to trial.  In other words, Johnson did not receive a so-called “plea bargain” and was instead prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

Between May 22, 2014 and January 26, 2015, while employed as an Erie County Senior Social Services Examiner, Johnson stole over thirty thousand dollars ($30,000.00) from the Erie County Employees Credit Union.  She stole these funds by depositing ­non-sufficient transfers to her account and making withdrawals against the inflated funds. 

No stranger to deceit and theft, Johnson has served time in state prison in connection with her three prior felony fraud convictions and one prior misdemeanor fraud conviction. Johnson faces a maximum of seven years in state prison when she is sentenced on July 29, 2015 at 9:30 A.M. before Justice Wolfgang.

The case was successfully prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Candace K. Vogel, who is assigned to DA Sedita’s Financial Crimes Bureau. The District Attorney also lauded the investigation conducted by Erie County Sheriff’s Department Investigator Daniel Brinkerhoff.