Acting Erie County District Attorney Michael J. Flaherty, Jr. announced that 

57 year-old Joan Joyce, a resident of Hamburg, NY has been sentenced to 4-8 years in prison by Erie County Court Judge Kenneth F. Case.

In February, Joyce pleaded guilty to one count of Grand Larceny in the Second Degree and five counts of Offering a False Instrument for Filing in the First Degree.  

Joyce worked as the bookkeeper for ECC Electrical Construction Corporation, a Cheektowaga area business from 2006 through April, 2015. While the bookkeeper, she wrote a series of checks totaling $263,135.37 to pay for her personal expenses, without permission of ECC Electrical Construction Corporation’s owner. 

Joyce wrote the checks to cover her credit card bills which included Chase, Capital One, Discover Card, Merrick Bank and Barclay Card. She used her credit cards for personal expenses and her gambling habit. In addition, she wrote checks to cover a loan with Sheffield Financial Services for computer purchases through Dell Financial Services, a down payment on a 2014 Toyota RAV4 and her mother’s funeral in 2014. She did not declare any of these stolen funds on her New York State income tax return. 

As part of her sentencing, Joyce agreed to pay back the $263,135. 37 she stole as well as $15,150 she owes the state in back taxes. 

Joyce has a prior felony conviction from 2008 of Grand Larceny in the Fourth Degree for a theft from her previous employer, Lakeview Metals. 

Acting DA Flaherty commends Detectives Joseph Crean and Joseph Bauman of the Cheektowaga Police Department for their investigative work on the case.

Assistant District Attorneys Gary M. Ertel and Brian P. Dassero who are assigned to the Erie County District Attorney’s Special Investigations Bureau successfully prosecuted the case.