Former state auditor pleads guilty in $400K Wallkill theft

Albany Times Union via MSN ^ | February 17, 2026 | Phillip Pantuso

[rightwingintelligentsia]

WALLKILL - A former state auditor accused of stealing more than $400,000 from the town of Wallkill while reviewing its finances pleaded guilty to a felony public corruption charge.

Tobias Otieno, 41, of Hyde Park, admitted Tuesday in Wallkill Town Court that he stole $405,843.25 from Wallkill between June 23, 2022, and Sept. 1, 2024, while assigned to audit the town on behalf of the state comptroller's office.

Under a plea agreement, prosecutors will recommend a prison sentence of four to 12 years when Otieno is sentenced on June 1, according to a release from Orange County District Attorney David Hoovler.

In court, Otieno acknowledged that he used his access to Wallkill's bank accounts and financial records to transfer town funds to his personal business accounts. He pleaded guilty to second-degree grand larceny as a public corruption crime, a class B felony.

"The use of a governmental position to steal public monies is a most serious offense that warrants severe punishment," Hoovler said in a statement announcing the plea.

Otieno had previously pleaded not guilty after being charged last year. He was accused of siphoning town money while analyzing payroll, procurements and non-payroll disbursements during an audit that began in June 2022.

Investigators from the Orange County District Attorney's Office and the Orange County Sheriff's Office, working under the county's White Collar Crimes Task Force, traced the transfers through bank and business records, according to the news release. Forensic auditors from the comptroller's office assisted in reviewing financial documents and tracing the source and disposition of the stolen funds.

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TOPICS: Miscellaneous
KEYWORDS: davidhoovler; embezzling; fraud; hydepark; newyork; orangecounty; phillippantuso; theft; tobiasotieno; wallkill

[castlebrew]

Quis audiet auditores?

[castlebrew]

Quis audiet auditores?

[albie]

DEI goon

[PGalt]

4-12 years? What’s the downside for this type of criminality?

[Uncle Miltie]

The alleged thief:

[mewzilla]

Deep State delenda est.

[ConservativeMind]

‘Aren’t auditors people who take what they see?’

[albie]

He was an auditor?! I bet he can’t tie his own shoelaces much less use a cowcolatah.

[Liz]

Town auditor Tobias Otieno was accused of siphoning town money into his own bank accounts while analyzing payroll, procurements and non-payroll disbursements during an audit that began in June 2022.

[Opinionated Blowhard]

Another example of how the real place to make money as a criminal is in government. Robbing a bank, dealing drugs or mugging someone on the street is for amateurs. You can make a fortune stealing from the government - whether its Medicare or food stamp fraud or, like this guy, stealing as a government employee - and if you get caught, you won’t spend nearly as much time in jail as a drug dealer.

[Hyman Roth]

Democrats going to Democrat