A former Nutley elementary school ‘Mothers Club’ treasurer was sentenced to four years in prison for stealing approximately $136,000 of school proceeds during a five-year period.
Essex County Superior Court Judge Hector DeSoto sentenced Catherine Yanoschak, 49, of Nutley this morning, and required her to make restitution in the amount of $127,000. On September 26, 2008, the defendant pleaded guilty to second-degree Theft by Failure to Make Required Disposition. As part of the plea agreement, Yanoschak was sentenced as a third-degree offender.
While serving as treasurer and later as president of the ‘Mothers Club’ of the Washington Elementary School in Nutley from 1998 through 2003, the defendant stole approximately $136,000 of funds raised by the organization for personal use. The funds had been raised during several fundraisers including: bake sales, plant sales, paper sales, holiday sales and tricky trays (auctions of donated goods) and were intended for the purchase of school supplies and special events.
Nice work Catherine, you clam. Stealing tha bake sale money – super classy.
There seems to be lots of Nutleyites in Baristaville. Does anyone know this mom’s maiden name? She has a very familiar face.
Let’s see, if this mom got four years for $136k, I reckon Bernie Madoff’s $50 billion ought to get him a sentence of 16 million years.
She probably won’t serve the full four years. Two, if she exhibits “good behavior.”
She wanted to bake her cake and eat ht, too.
Thank you walleroo! Is it me, or does this seem just a bit harsh and inconsistent with other sentences? Look at OJ. Look at all the scandals we’ve listened to, and lighter sentences.
I’m not minimizing the breach of trust, fraud, theft, etc…but in this case, where she’s a mother of young children, perhaps justice isn’t being served by taking her away from them…for so long.
It’s a shame all the way around.
Her mistake was embezzling from a school. If she’d been smarter, she would have embezzled from a corporation, who would have agreed not to press charges in exchange for her keeping her mouth shut.
my empathies go out to kathy and her family.
i knew kathy in grade school and she was bright and caring.
a victim of circumstance and not far from many of you who will criticize her.
i’m sad to hear this and even more sad to think people in my community did not stand behind her more.
god bless the next abused woman out there who makes a mistake.
i pray she will endure this well and find her way back to a more fulfilling life soon.
Sailmom, Yanoschak is her maiden name. She was a few years ahead of me at Nutley High and I was shocked the first time I read about what she did.
She should get less jail time because she’s a Mom?!?! Are you kidding?
And by “victim of circumstance” do you mean that someone placed the exact same amount of money in her bank account that was found extorted from the bake sale money by a perp never caught?
jeeze
Yeah, it’s a real stretch to see her as a victim here. What about all those poor kids who were looking forward to certain activities that now have to be cancelled because of her?
I grew up in Nutley, and my life and experiences there convinced me of one thing – if I wanted to live a full and happy life, I had to get the hell out of that town.
Cathy was my friend in grammar and high school, she was admired by friends, family and teachers. She had every chance to live a full and successful life, but she did stay in Nutley. I tried to convince her that getting out of Nutley was a laudable goal. Very sorry I couldn’t convince her.
Look at other successful-then-unsuccessful people from Nutley – Martha Stewart, Robert Blake. I don’t know what it is about that place. Something in the water, pods in random basements…?
If you’re reading this from your Nutley residence, get out while you can.
For her punishment she shall be dunked 20 times in the Mudhole and made to wear a red $ sign and a plaque shall be erected.
Oh, come on, Mary – Nutley is not *that* bad!!! I lived there for 38 years and the deciding factor to leave was to move to a town with better educational opportunities for my kids. If I didn’t have children it would have been fine to stay right where I was.
We lived in Nutley for about a year many, many years ago before we moved to Montclair. I like Montclair better.
Good! She should rot in jail! What a great example for the Nutholes and the children of the Nutholes from Nutley! Too much inbreeding and strechy pants over there!
Stay away from the IHOP buffet you pigs!
Nutley was the place to live in the 50’s & 60’s. Loved those Collegiate looking girls. They always turned on the Nicky Newarks!
Tom D’Alessio, a former county executive, was a Nutley native. After he was convicted for corruption charges, he spent time in Federal prison. The current county executive is also from Nutley but he moved to the Caldwells.
Ahhh, I was wondering when the Nutley-bashing was going to start…so impressed with yourselves….
aaahh…Nutley. I remember living there in my very early 20’s-got many a parking ticket and had to go to court-threatened with this that and the other-being called a “scofflaw”-and made an example of in front of the court-for PARKING TICKETS. Meanwhile–just up the block in the “candy and newspaper shop” there were all kinds of dice games/gambling/weird backroom stuff going on-in broad daylight-Violas and Orrecchios—real “connected” corrupt families that rule that town-anyone that had/has skin of a different color or god forbid RENTED (and I was 22 and single, mind you) were discriminated against bigtime. All the stories about the highschool I had heard from friends of parents who had kids in NHS….I will never forget those stories-girls performing all kinds of acts and the parents in an uproar-??-Very weird place, weird people.
Why do you think they call it Nutley.
(Sorry.)