Schenectady man busted for allegedly stealing from Nassau Baseball Association

NASSAU, NY — A former treasurer of the Nassau Baseball Association faces Grand Larceny charges for allegedly using his position to steal upwards of four-thousand dollars from the youth baseball program.

Phillip Bonfante, 38, of Schenectady is accused of writing himself checks and using an association debit card to rack up $4,366.32 in unauthorized purchases between 2013 and 2015.

“Going into the 2017 season, I knew it was going to be my last season as president of Nassau Baseball, so I wanted to make sure that I left the league in a better place than when I found it. This included going over the finances of my first two years as president and the years before I took the president’s position,” said Jeff Pearce, president of the Nassau Baseball Association. “After careful review of our bank records, we found discrepancies that we felt needed to be handed over to the proper authorities.”

After an investigation of their own, Village of Nassau Police secured a warrant for Bonfante’s arrest. He turned himself in to village police on Wednesday evening and was charged with Grand Larceny in the 3rd degree, a class D felony.

Bonfante was arraigned in Schodack town court by Justice Paul Peter and released to the Rensselaer County Department of Probation. He is due back in Schodack town court at 6:00 p.m. on Wednesday, September 9.

“As a non-profit organization, this is your worst nightmare, but we are confident the judicial system will right any wrongs. It is always very disheartening when as a community you work so hard to provide a great service like youth baseball, and you have a situation like this occur,” Pearce went on to say. “Nassau Baseball has always been resilient, and I am confident that we will turn this into a positive.”