MONTICELLO – A former Village of Liberty working supervisor in the public works department pled guilty in Sullivan County Court to a felony of grand larceny for stealing over $17,000 from the village.
Peter Parks, 62, of Liberty, admitted that between 2014 and 2019, he approved village payroll documents that he knew falsely indicated that two DPW employees had been working for the village at times that they were actually working for Parks’ own private construction business.
Under his supervision, the men completed private construction projects for Peter Parks Construction, but Parks submitted documents to the village stating the men were working those hours for the village DPW, defrauding the village of $17,718.
“Village of Liberty taxpayers trusted Peter Parks to be honest. He violated and abused the public’s confidence in him to his own benefit. There is no justification for having hardworking village taxpayers pay people who were working at his private business,” said Acting District Attorney Meagan Galligan.
Parks faces 2 1/3 to seven years in state prison when sentenced in January 2021. Acting County Court Judge Stephan Schick has agreed to sentence Parks to five years of felony probation supervision providing he pays back $6,000 before sentencing and the remainder paid at sentencing.
