Condo association business manager accused in embezzlement case

For the second time in two days, the case of an area woman who has been accused of embezzling a large amount of money to fund a gambling addiction has come to light in New London Superior Court.

Cynthia S. Eddy, 52, of 9 Tanglewood Drive, Preston, the former business manager for the Lakeside Condominium Association in Gales Ferry, was arraigned today on charges of first-degree larceny and third-degree forgery. According to an arrest warrant affidavit made public today, she is accused of stealing $294,400 from the association between 2005 and May 2009. During the same time period, she lost $226,400 in slot machines at Foxwoods Resort Casino and $63,884 at Mohegan Sun.

Eddy, who has retained defense attorney Dado Coric, is free on a written promise to appear in court again on Dec. 17.

On Tuesday, 53-year-old Beverly Howard of Westerly was charged with embezzling $334,778 while serving as the dining services director for the East Lyme schools. Her gambling records amounted to more than $381,000, and she admitted she had gambled with cash she took out of cafeteria revenues before making the daily deposits into the school lunch fund. She said she created false deposit logs to cover the thefts.

In the Eddy case, the condominium association began investigating in May, when Bank of America contacted them about "inconsistencies" in the association’s bank account. Bank officials produced a number of checks made out to Eddy that contained forged signatures of association officers. A forensic auditor commissioned by the association found that Eddy made $294,427 in unauthorized disbursements.

Eddy, who had served as the association’s business manager since 1984, was responsible for handling maintenance requests, collecting association fees and paying bills. In an interview with Ledyard detective Richard J. Pasqualini Jr., she admitted to writing checks to herself, forging the required signatures of two condominium officers and recording the withdrawals as vendor payments.

Gambling-driven embezzlement cases have become commonplace in southeastern Connecticut, which hosts two of the largest casinos in the world.

"These cases just fit the pattern we’ve seen for a long time now," said Supervisory Assistant State’s Attorney Lawrence J. Tytla, who has prosecuted a number of embezzlement crimes in New London Superior Court. "They are people with no criminal record, with responsible jobs that apparently get involved in gambling, lose control and find themselves committing crimes to support their habit."