BOSTON (WHDH) - A man accused of stealing nearly $70,000 from the New England School of Law, where he worked as an IT specialist, appeared in court Wednesday.
Gareth Flanagan, 52, is facing three felony larceny charges for using New England School of Law’s Amazon account between 2020 and 2022 for personal use. He was also fired from his position at the school in October 2022, according to a statement from the institution.
Flanagan had authority to purchase items up to $5,000 without approval, prosecutors said.
However, the New England School of Law hired an external auditor, who found $68,000 missing, and confronted Flanagan about the funds, prosecutors said. Flanagan was in a band that played in small, local bars and allegedly used the stolen money to buy music equipment.
“The items were clearly music-related and had no function for the New England School of Law,” said prosecutor David Bradley.
Flanagan allegedly admitted he made the purchases and said he was just testing out the equipment, prosecutors said.
“Most of the material … remained unopened, in their boxes in his attic or basement and he returned a lot of the items, maybe not all of it, but a lot of them,” said Ben Brooks, Flanagan’s defense attorney.
Flanagan was released on $1,000 cash bail and made no comment when he left the courthouse.
“After this happened, he has suffered from serious mental health decline as a result of his anxiety about what would happen,” Brooks said.
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