By Shayna Jacobs
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
MANHATTAN SUPREME COURT — A former New York University chemistry department administrator was sent to prison Wednesday for scamming the school out of $409,000.
East Village resident John Runowicz, 48, pleaded guilty to grand larceny in May for submitting 13,000 phony expenses for reimbursement by NYU from 2003-2009. Some of those receipts came from trips to a liquor store.
Runowicz's attorney, Daniel parker, said his client was "so remorseful for his actions" that he liquidated a $39,000 retirement account to return some of the money to the university.
Still, the judge sentenced him to one to three years in prison.
Parker said Runowicz purchased "nothing remarkable" with the funds he stole and said he did not know how so many unnecessary expenses got through the system.
"As an NYU Law graduate I would hope they'd spend less time soliciting donations from their alumni until they could run a tighter ship," Parker said.
Runowicz faced five to 15 years in prison but was promised a softer sentence. He will be eligible for release after one year.
