$400K Stolen From St. James HVAC Company; Ex-Account Supervisor Charged: DA

SUFFOLK COUNTY, NY — A former account supervisor was accused of stealing $400K from a St. James-based HVAC company and then transferring the funds to her personal accounts, Suffolk County District Attorney Raymond Tierney said Thursday.

Eleni Kalodis, 54, of Fort Lee, New Jersey, employed at the company for six years, was accused of using the stolen funds on "various extravagant expenses," the DA's Office said. Kalodis was charged with second-degree grand larceny.

"The alleged acts of this defendant illustrate an employee who exploited her position of trust to systematically steal hundreds of thousands of dollars from her employer," Tierney said in a news release. "Trust is the foundation of which business and our economy thrive. Our office will continue to vigorously prosecute those who betray their professional responsibilities for personal gain."

From March 2017 to December 2023, Kalodis stole funds in the form of purchase order credits from Islandaire, a nationwide specialty air conditioning and heating manufacturer, investigators said. The funds were due and payable to vendors who conducted business with the company, prosecutors said.

Kalodis, in her role as the credits receivable supervisor, was the only person at Islandaire who had access to crediting the company’s vendor accounts, the DA said.

She took this "unfettered opportunity" to steal more than $400K from the company for over six years by redirecting those credits into her own accounts to pay her expenses, including restaurants, hotels, vacations and crypto currency purchases, the DA's Office said.

Kalodis was court-ordered placed on supervised release and ordered to surrender her passport on Wednesday while her case is heard. She is due back in court on Nov. 20 and is being represented by William Newman.