Erie County District Attorney Frank A. Sedita, III announced that 24 year old Shana King of 5078 Sheridan Drive, Amherst, pleaded guilty, as charged, this morning to Grand Larceny in the Fourth Degree before Supreme Court Justice Penny M. Wolfgang.  This is the highest charge for which the defendant could have been convicted had she gone to trial. 

King admitted that during the period April 27, 2012 through August 7, 2012, while volunteering for the New York State National Guard “Family Readiness Group” based out of the Connecticut Street Armory, she embezzled approximately $1,520 from a support funds account intended for members of our local National Guard unit and their families.  Examples of such support included send-off parties, care packages sent to service members overseas as well as families left behind during deployments, and welcome-home parties for Guard members when they returned home from deployments.  King used the stolen funds to support a different, albeit less altruistic endeavor, her drug habit. 

The case was successfully prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Brian P. Dassero, who is assigned to DA Sedita’s Special Investigations and Prosecutions Bureau. DA Sedita also recognized the efforts of Erie County Sheriff’s Office Detective Scott Piel who led the criminal investigation.

King faces a maximum prison sentence of 1-1/3 - 4 years in state prison when she is sentenced before Justice Wolfgang on November 6, 2013 at 9:30 a.m.