By Jamal Harris
The Buffalo News
As he prepared to sentence a man for stealing close to $450,000 from a volunteer fire department that he used to feed his gambling habit, Erie County Judge James Bargnesi said he had mixed emotions.
“This court does understand the complexity of gambling,” Bargnesi said to James Hoffman, former treasurer of the Sheridan Park Fire Company. “This court also understands the importance of stating ‘Stealing is not OK, whether it’s in your control or not.’”
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Hoffman was sentenced by Bargnesi to two to six years in prison on his guilty plea to second-degree grand larceny, and one to three years for repeated failure to file personal income and earnings taxes.
The sentences will be served concurrently, meaning Hoffman will spend at least two and as many as six years in prison. As a condition of the plea, Hoffman turned over $55,000 to his defense attorney, which was provided to the fire department. He will also pay the remaining restitution balance of $391,118.42 to the organization, as well as $26,706 in restitution to the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance.
Hoffman had already admitted stealing close to $450,000 from the fire company over a six-year period and failing to pay nearly $27,000 in state income taxes.
His attorney had earlier said that all the money went toward feeding Hoffman’s gambling addiction, primarily in the form of playing the slots and other games of chance online.
An emotional Hoffman told Bargnesi he was getting help for his addiction and how the “hatred and pain” from his former colleagues at the fire company is “unbearable.”
Daniel West, who is working with Hoffman to get him to stop gambling, said of the theft: “It wasn’t James; it was his addiction.” He pleaded with the judge to impose a lighter sentence so that he could continue to get counseling.
But Paul Palistrant, president of the Sheridan Park Volunteer Fire Company, urged Bargnesi to send a message to Hoffman.
“We hope you give him the max time allowed,” he said, adding that he was satisfied with the sentence Hoffman received.
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Tonawanda police and county prosecutors declined to say how much of the fire company’s money can’t be accounted for.
Kait Munro, a spokesperson for Erie County District Attorney Michael Keane, said earlier this year that Hoffman stole the funds by withdrawing cash from Sheridan Park’s bank accounts or by failing to deposit money collected from fire company fundraisers. The thefts weren’t discovered for almost six years, until January, when a fire company vendor told Sheridan Park officials a payment check had bounced. That’s when Palistrant and other officials learned almost everything the company had saved over its 96-year history was gone.
Palistrant said when he confronted Hoffman, he confessed.
“When he told me what had happened, that he did it, to be honest, I couldn’t believe it. I thought he was kidding,” Palistrant said after the plea hearing in July.
Palistrant said officials immediately removed Hoffman as treasurer and as a member of the fire company.
Palistrant said the fire company has been struggling with financial loss, which caused the cancellation of several events this year. And he said the company has taken steps to ensure that it never again is the victim of an embezzler.
“Everything has been revamped. We have an accountant who has made a lot of suggestions, which we have taken up, as far as double-checking everything,” he said.
Hoffman’s relatives, who were in court, declined to comment to The Buffalo News. Multiple family members were distraught upon hearing the sentence, further voicing their displeasure with members of the fire company at the conclusion of the sentence. Palistrant said he feels for the family and for Hoffman.
“James was a good friend, not just me, but to a bunch of us,” he said. “We did family stuff and parties together. And he hurt a lot of people, unfortunately.”
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