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Dominic Coluccio, age 74 of Bellmore, entered his guilty plea for wire fraud on Thursday, April 11, the United States Attorney’s Office Southern District of New York announced.
Coluccio served as the President of the United Probation Officers Association (UPOA) from 1989 until about 2016. The UPOA is a labor organization representing current and retired officers and supervisors in the New York City Department of Probation.
From 2010 to about 2019, he was also the Administrator of UPOA’s Active Welfare Fund and UPOA’s Retirement Welfare Fund, plans funded almost entirely by New York City that provide supplemental health and welfare benefits to union members.
According to the Attorney’s Office, Coluccio embezzled money from the plans beginning in 2012 and lasting until about 2019.
During that time, he would use his personal American Express card to pay for high-end meals and retail items, luxury vacations and hotels, jewelry, and even a relative’s college tuition – then use funds from the UPOA’s welfare funds to pay down the balance.
Additionally, Coluccio used more misappropriated funds to set up an unauthorized individual retirement account in his name as well as another IRA under the UPOA with a sub-account in his name.
Officials said that all the funds Coluccio transferred to his unauthorized IRA were collected on top of the pension payments he already received from the UPOA.
In 2016, he retired from his position as UPOA president, and the union agreed to pay him an annual salary for his continued service as the Administrator of the Funds — this, too, was paid to him on top of his Probation pension, UPOA pension, and UPOA severance.
Finally, from 2000 until about 2020, he submitted reimbursement requests for medical expenses and hid overpayments to himself, his dependents, and more.
“Dominic Coluccio promised to look out for all the hard-working active and retired probation officers who are members of the UPOA,” said Damian Williams, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York.
“Instead…he stole hundreds of thousands of dollars from them to fund his lavish lifestyle.”
As part of his plea agreement, Coluccio agreed to forfeit $750,000 to the US and make $684,929 in restitution payments to the UPOA and its welfare funds.
His charge of wire fraud carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.
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