Synagogue bookkeeper admits to stealing more than $350,000 from NJ congregation, feds say

Natalie Demaree, The Charlotte Observer on Mar 21, 2025

By clicking submit, I authorize Arcamax and its affiliates to: (1) use, sell, and share my information for marketing purposes, including cross-context behavioral advertising, as described in our Privacy Policy , (2) add to information that I provide with other information like interests inferred from web page views, or data lawfully obtained from data brokers, such as past purchase or location data, or publicly available data, (3) contact me or enable others to contact me by email or other means with offers for different types of goods and services, and (4) retain my information while I am engaging with marketing messages that I receive and for a reasonable amount of time thereafter. I understand I can opt out at any time through an email that I receive, or by clicking here

A woman pleaded guilty to stealing more than $350,000 from a New Jersey synagogue where she was employed as a bookkeeper, federal prosecutors said.

Stacy Margaritondo, 52, is guilty of wire fraud after admitting to regularly issuing unauthorized checks, keeping inaccurate accounting records and altering bank statements for her own benefit while working at a synagogue in Union County, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Jersey said in a Thursday news release.

The name of the synagogue was not revealed in court records.

“Margaritondo is remorseful for her criminal conduct and pled guilty as a result of that fact,” attorney Steven Wukovits, who represents Margaritondo, told McClatchy News in a Friday email.

Margaritondo began working at the synagogue in 2010 and was promoted to office manager and bookkeeper in July 2020, according to prosecutors.

However, from about December 2019 to May 2023, she used her role to embezzle money from the synagogue, prosecutors said.

Between December 2019 and October 2022, she issued about 55 unauthorized checks to herself from the synagogue’s bank account, according to court records.

Margaritondo forged the signature of the treasurer of the synagogue’s board of directors onto the checks, which were worth an estimated total of $161,175.61, prosecutors said.

As part of her fraud scheme, she also took about $300,000 in short-term loans from the synagogue to offset the synagogue’s account balances each month, according to prosecutors.

She is scheduled to be sentenced July 22 and faces up to 20 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000, according to court records.

Union County is about a 10-mile drive southwest from Newark.

_______