By Tiffany Williams –
Former NYC Correction Officer Gets Probation, Ordered to Repay $80,297 in Military Leave Fraud
A former New York City correction officer forged military documents to collect more than $80,000 in leave pay after her active-duty assignment had ended. On Tuesday, Leah Mathieu was sentenced to two years’ probation and ordered to return the money.
Mathieu, 35, of Freeport, pleaded guilty in April to one count of wire fraud. U.S. District Judge Naomi Reice Buchwald also imposed 100 hours of community service and ordered restitution of $80,297.90 at the September 15 sentencing in Manhattan federal court.
The fraud exploited a benefit designed to support city employees serving in the military. Mathieu, who belonged to the United States Navy Reserve and New York Naval Militia, collected military leave pay from the Department of Correction between December 2022 and March 2024 through false claims that she remained on state active duty, according to the city’s Department of Investigation.
Her original military orders covered October 20, 2022, through April 17, 2023. But according to court documents described by investigators, she was released from state active duty on December 7, 2022, because she operated a government vehicle without proper authorization.
Mathieu did not tell the Department of Correction that her assignment had ended. Instead, she told the department she could not report to work because she remained on active duty under a new set of orders she had forged.
Investigators said Mathieu forged at least five documents. Those documents and her false representations allowed her to continue collecting military leave payments she was not entitled to receive.
“Paid military leave is a benefit intended to support City employees who are actively serving in the armed forces. Falsifying records to obtain this paid leave is a crime and particularly troubling when it involves a City correction officer entrusted with upholding the law,” Department of Investigation Commissioner Nadia I. Shihata said.
The Department of Correction referred the matter to city investigators, triggering the investigation. DOI worked with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, whose Public Corruption Unit prosecuted the case.
Mathieu joined the Department of Correction in December 2016. She was suspended on April 9, 2026, and terminated on April 22, 2026, as a result of the investigation. At the time of her termination, her annual base salary was approximately $109,352.