A former New York City Department of Correction officer from Freeport was sentenced Tuesday to two years of probation and ordered to repay more than $80,000 after admitting she forged military paperwork to keep collecting paid leave she was no longer entitled to. Leah Mathieu, 35, had pleaded guilty to a single count of wire fraud earlier this year for a scheme prosecutors say ran for more than a year while she was actually off duty and no longer serving.
U.S. District Judge Naomi Reice Buchwald handed down the sentence on September 15 in Manhattan federal court, ordering Mathieu to complete 100 hours of community service in addition to probation and $80,297.90 in restitution, according to NewsTalk New England. As News 12 reported, Mathieu had been a Department of Correction officer from Freeport who fraudulently collected military leave pay tied to her service with the New York Naval Militia.
Mathieu joined the Department of Correction in December 2016, according to the same account, and remained on the job until she was suspended on April 9 of this year and formally terminated on April 22. Her military record shows she enlisted in the U.S. Navy Reserve in July 2021 and joined the New York Naval Militia that December 28, per the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York.
An Early Release She Never Reported
According to News 12, Mathieu was released from state active duty with the Naval Militia, a release that stemmed from her unauthorized use of a government vehicle. Instead of telling the Department of Correction that her active duty had ended, prosecutors say she forged new active-duty orders and falsely claimed she needed to remain out of work because she was continuing service under those fabricated orders.
Prosecutors detailed the extent of the deception: Investigators identified at least five forged documents in a scheme that falsely represented that her state active-duty status was extended through February 2024, which is what let her keep fraudulently collecting payments from December 23, 2022, through March 1, 2024, according to Daily Voice. Her real deployment order had run from October 2022 through April 2023 before her early release that December, the outlet reported. News 12 places the offense window between December 2022 and March 2024, matching the federal account.
How the Fraud Was Uncovered
The case was cracked open through a joint investigation involving the New York City Department of Investigation working alongside federal law enforcement and military partners, including the Naval Criminal Investigative Service and the Defense Finance and Accounting Service, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York. The prosecution itself was handled by the office's Public Corruption Unit. Wire fraud carries a statutory maximum of up to 20 years in prison, though actual sentences are determined under advisory federal guidelines.
U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton said after Mathieu's guilty plea that the stolen funds “came from New Yorkers' pockets,” while city investigators noted that falsifying military leave undermines legitimate service members who depend on the same public employee protections she abused, per the federal prosecutor's office.
The Benefit She Exploited
The paid leave Mathieu manipulated exists under Section 242(5) of New York State Military Law, which entitles state and municipal public employees to full salary for periods of ordered military duty up to 30 calendar days, or 22 working days, per calendar year, according to the New York State Assembly. Mathieu served with the New York Naval Militia.
Mathieu's case involved financial misconduct by a New York City corrections officer.
