CURIOUS STATEMENT FROM CORNWELL: We went down to Debbie Preston's office and were told she's unavailable

[DanCooper]

So I just noticed something. Little Debbie tried to blame this on the flood, then admitted that she actually took the card out "just before" the flood, but claimed she had to use it to replace her property destroyed in the flood because she didn't have insurance on the contents of her home.

 

That is a lie.

 

The flood was in September. According to the documents, it was already maxed out no later than June, in time for the July statement. There is no significant activity during or after the flood.

 

She tried to play the sympathy card with the horrific natural disaster she built her name on, and it is a lie.

 

What an absolutely vile disgrace. #PrestonForPrison

 

She should blame it on the Town doing a credit check, not a vast conspiracy or a flood.

[PeteMoss]

So I just noticed something. Little Debbie tried to blame this on the flood, then admitted that she actually took the card out "just before" the flood, but claimed she had to use it to replace her property destroyed in the flood because she didn't have insurance on the contents of her home.

 

That is a lie.

 

The flood was in September. According to the documents, it was already maxed out no later than June, in time for the July statement. There is no significant activity during or after the flood.

 

She tried to play the sympathy card with the horrific natural disaster she built her name on, and it is a lie.

 

What an absolutely vile disgrace. #PrestonForPrison

 

You need to back out and not continue to dignify yourself in this manner.

[Bingoloid]

You need to back out and not continue to dignify yourself in this manner.

Your Freudian slip is showing, Pete.

[Bingoloid]

She should blame it on the Town doing a credit check, not a vast conspiracy or a flood.

LOL. Like a Scooby Doo episode?

 

"I would have gotten away with it, too, if it weren't for those meddling auditors."

[DanCooper]

When it comes to identify theft, relatives and friends are the most likely culprits. Debbie was no different in taking advantage of Conklin. Shame on her and the republicans who have propped her up over the years.

[PeteMoss]

Your Freudian slip is showing, Pete.

You blew it big time. Just like the time you made fun of the Weatherman who has MS.

 

Give it up!

[The Insider]

I think everyone can agree what Mrs. Preston did was wrong and also the timing of this is clearly politically motivated. In my opinion this speaks to a far bigger problem and that is was DA Mollen aware of this while in office.

 

In the case of Sheriff Harder purchasing Christmas gifts for staff and supporters with taxpayer money Mollen let Harder pay back 1 years purchases and that was all. What many are unaware off is that Harder did this for several years with taxpayers money. It seems only fair that DA Cornwells office should be looking at that as well.

 

It also remains to be seen what will happen with the investigation involving Senator Akshar and Capt. Newcomb. I'm hoping that law enforcement affiliation does not excuse these incidents which Mollen knew about.

 

It would be a sad day in Broome County if Mrs. Preston is held accountable but the others are not because they are involved in law enforcement.

[Caveman]

They all need to be flushed down the crapper! And throw Hillary in for good measure. Problem is, that they would just clog up all the drains, refusing to go down and force their way back up the pipes for more....and people in BC would just let them...that's why BC is turning into one big sewer...too many useless floaters.

 

 

Broome County - Land of Corruption

[PeteMoss]

I think everyone can agree what Mrs. Preston did was wrong and also the timing of this is clearly politically motivated. In my opinion this speaks to a far bigger problem and that is was DA Mollen aware of this while in office.

 

In the case of Sheriff Harder purchasing Christmas gifts for staff and supporters with taxpayer money Mollen let Harder pay back 1 years purchases and that was all. What many are unaware off is that Harder did this for several years with taxpayers money. It seems only fair that DA Cornwells office should be looking at that as well.

 

It also remains to be seen what will happen with the investigation involving Senator Akshar and Capt. Newcomb. I'm hoping that law enforcement affiliation does not excuse these incidents which Mollen knew about.

 

It would be a sad day in Broome County if Mrs. Preston is held accountable but the others are not because they are involved in law enforcement.

I agree with you.

 

The Harder incident I was referring to was on BCVoice, a poster tried to make it appear that Harder sent out a newsletter that honored a person who committed suicide. In actuality it was a newsletter from the year before.

[Bingoloid]

You blew it big time. Just like the time you made fun of the Weatherman who has MS.

 

Give it up!

 

Nice. Yes, I mistakenly thought a weatherman was drunk on the air, and other posters agreed with me. When I was advised that he had a disability, I immediately owned it, apologized, and asked that the post be removed - which it was.

 

What I didn't do was burst into tears accusing everyone of being out to destroy me and claim that I was the victim who was being targeted for doing the right thing for the people.

 

So let's just spell it all out, here.

 

1a) Preston repeatedly states that this happened during the "difficult times" of the flood, and that the money was spent on "various things" to replace her household items lost in the flood that weren't covered by her insurance.

 

1b) The credit card had a $23,500 balance by July 2, 2011 - the first one visible on the screenshot. That month, there were $715 in purchases and a $970 payment, showing that the balance was accumulated even earlier than that.

1c) The flood of 2011 occurred in September, 2011, several months later.

 

1d) September, October, and November - the months during and after the flood of 2011 - show less than $1,500 of purchases.

 

1e) The town was not aware of the card and sizable payments were made - seemingly in-store at Sam's Club - in 2012. There is no indication here that any of the prior charges were legitimate town expenses, since the town would have paid them off and had them on the books.

 

2a) Preston says that she was targeted by multiple blackmail attempts.

 

2b) Preston says that she did nothing wrong and had nothing to be afraid of if this came out since it was all "taken care of".

 

2c) Preston, a high-ranking local official, never claims that she brought these multiple blackmail attempts - serious crimes - to the attention of law enforcement or the county's lawyers, only her personal lawyer.

 

3a) Preston claims that when the town contacted her and asked her to stop using the card and take care of this, she did so.

 

3b) The emails show that attorney Mark Gorgos claimed Debbie Preston had told her the account would be paid off by "this Friday" on April 25, 2012. That would be April 27, 2012.

 

3c) Although sizable payments were made in April and May, the June 2012 statement - the last one shown - shows $3,520 of purchases and (by my reading) a significant cash advance throughout the month of May, primarily for women's clothing stores.

 

Are any of these facts untrue? Do you take issue with any of them? Which ones, specifically? If not, the conclusions are obvious.

 

1) If these facts are true, it would appear that over 90% of the charges were not flood-related and Preston's personal use of the card was not at all motivated by the flood.

 

2) If these facts are true, it would appear that there was either no blackmail attempt or Preston did not want law enforcement looking into it.

 

3) If these facts are true, it would appear that when Preston agreed to stop the use of the card and pay it off, she - for some reason - caused or allowed the card to be used for at least one more major spree.

 

The people of Broome County - who she says she does everything for - deserve some transparency. The full billing statements - all of them. When this actually started, what actually motivated it, and how long it actually went on for.

 

I think it's also reasonable to ask where, after over a year of apparently needing to use the town's credit to buy groceries, she suddenly came up with tens of thousands of dollars to pay it off when she started getting heat. Mikeyme56 has made some fairly serious allegations regarding the impact of Preston's behavior on her husband's finances which would imply that this is a "thing" with her. Was this money on the up-and-up, or did she divert it from another source she was not entitled to in order to try to keep this quiet?

 

If not, what happened during May? Why would someone make massive payments to Sam's Club after C&G contacted Preston, when the card was still being used to frantically stockpile women's clothing? Were Preston's loved ones in the dark about her debts until Gorgos got involved, then intervened to try to clean up her mess while she was still uncontrollably spending other people's money and lying about it?

 

Maybe you're right, Pete. Maybe this is like the thing with the weatherman. Maybe I'm poking fun at someone who I didn't realize has a serious problem - in this case, psychiatric.

[The Wanker]

You blew it big time. Just like the time you made fun of the Weatherman who has MS.

 

Give it up!

Good call. You don't make mistakes so you can repeatedly hammer on everyone else who does.....over and over and over and over and over...and over.............and over..........and...

 

Oooooo.....we all SO wish we were you.

[The Wanker]

It would be a sad day in Broome County if Mrs. Preston is held accountable but the others are not because they are involved in law enforcement.

But it would be a great place to start.

[BubbaGump]

She used the card for un authorized purchases then she has no business holding any office, period.

[The Wanker]

 

 

 

2a) Preston says that she was targeted by multiple blackmail attempts.

 

2b) Preston says that she did nothing wrong and had nothing to be afraid of if this came out since it was all "taken care of".

 

2c) Preston, a high-ranking local official, never claims that she brought these multiple blackmail attempts - serious crimes - to the attention of law enforcement or the county's lawyers, only her personal lawyer.

 

 

 

It's like a Peter Lorre / Edward G. Robinson movie.

 

Seriously. We're supposed to believe that she, an elected public official, illegally used a credit card on the town's account, THEN got blackmailed by a cabal of nefarious shadow groups for it AND THEN went and paid her personal lawyer for advice instead of availing herself of free legal advice from the town's lawyer?

 

Seriously?

 

She's a victim here of some huge conspiracy?

 

Suuuuuuuuuurrrrrrrrre she is.

 

This is EXACTLY the sort of horse hooey that brought Libous to a felony. Committing crimes and then LYING about it, trying to make himself out to be the victim.

 

We're TIRED of being lied to like we're 4 year olds and they expect us to swallow it all.

 

This sort of thing makes HRC the Devil's spawn when she does it, but it's ok, and just being victimized over petty stuff when THEY do it.

 

Get the tar bucket and the rough hewn rail and we'll meet there.

[PeteMoss]

TL:DR

[Bingoloid]

TL:DR

 

Here, let me dumb it down for you:

 

#Kleptomania #BecauseYou'dBeInJail #PrestonForPrison

[Independent]

I will wait and see how you will all be crying when your Taxes go threw the roof because you'll vote for Jason Hillary Garnar! I will still be here to tell you i told you so!!!!

[The Wanker]

I will wait and see how you will all be crying when your Taxes go threw the roof because you'll vote for Jason Hillary Garnar! I will still be here to tell you i told you so!!!!

When Rantin Ryan was in office we were being reminded weekly here on BCV that Ryan's tax hikes had us Binghamtonites perilously close to the Constitutional tax ceiling.

 

How will Garner raise it above that?

[FormerSomeone]

Binghamton was forced to raise taxes partially because the County suddenly changed/lowered the already stingy level of distributing the sales tax.

 

 

Binghamton received 11.8 percent of its revenue from the sales tax, lower than the 20.3 percent for all cities in the State. Sales tax revenue grew at a 1.9 percent average annual rate from 2001 to 2011. Due to a change in the distribution of Broome County sales tax to municipalities within the County (effective January 1, 2010), instead of the City getting a proportional share of any year-over-year growth in the County’s sales tax collections, as was the case before, the increase was limited to no more than 0.5 percent in 2010, 1 percent in 2011, 1.5 percent in 2012 and 2 percent in 2013 and thereafter. This further limits Binghamton’s local revenue growth.

 

https://www.osc.state.ny.us/localgov/pubs/fiscalprofiles/binghamton.pdf

[mikeyme56]

the ones who should be enraged...are the taxpayers of Broome County, and especially the taxpayers of the town of Conklin......there are those who are saying..."didnt cost the taxpayers a dime, so its ok"....ummm....only reason it DIDNT is because she got caught......stating the obvious, it is NOT ok for public officials to apply for credit cards in the taxpayers name, without telling them, and then to use the card for personal, private purchases....which is what happened....i repeat....the card was NOT approved by the town of Conklin. does that make it a crime?......yes...of course.....will she be prosecuted?....who knows.....what happens on election day, is up to the people ...the voters, of Broome County. They can keep her, or remove her from office....their choice. I for one could give a big rat's ass what they do. There is an old saying...."you get what you deserve".....

[FormerSomeone]

And she should return the 5% cash back on gas, 3% cash back on travel & meals and 1% cash back on other purchases to the community.

 

http://www.samsclub.com/sams/pagedetails/content.jsp?pageName=CreditMarketingBusiness&cid=INT_CREDIT_BUSINESS

[Bingoloid]

the ones who should be enraged...are the taxpayers of Broome County, and especially the taxpayers of the town of Conklin......there are those who are saying..."didnt cost the taxpayers a dime, so its ok"....ummm....only reason it DIDNT is because she got caught......stating the obvious, it is NOT ok for public officials to apply for credit cards in the taxpayers name, without telling them, and then to use the card for personal, private purchases....which is what happened....i repeat....the card was NOT approved by the town of Conklin. does that make it a crime?......yes...of course.....will she be prosecuted?....who knows.....what happens on election day, is up to the people ...the voters, of Broome County. They can keep her, or remove her from office....their choice. I for one could give a big rat's ass what they do. There is an old saying...."you get what you deserve".....

 

She obviously had no intention of closing that card up until she was forced to do so. She maxes it out, then made steady payments of ~$1,000 every month until April, continuing to use the card regularly. Making payments then running it back up the same month is a pattern that says "I'm almost broke". Then C&G contacts her.

 

What happens next is really odd. Payments of $6,000+ in April and $14,000+ in May, but she's also still running up $3,500+ in charges in May, including for groceries at Weis? These don't sound like a coordinated plan to take care of the situation. It sounds like someone was trying to take care of it as quickly as possible, and someone else was taking advantage of the large payment made in April to shop for a fabulous new wardrobe in May - someone who buys women's clothing and shops at Our Country Hearts.

 

Somebody who had $20,000 liquid like that wouldn't have needed to hijack the card in the first place, so who made the payments? Then I think about the story you told about Paul's remarks, having to sell off assets to cover up Debbie's actions and the story that she was using Paul's credit cards after he passed. It makes me wonder. Did Paul get clued into this at the last minute and start desperately trying to scrape together the money to take care of his wife's latest trainwreck? Could the situation have really been that out of control?

 

Good Lord.

[The Wanker]

I just listened to the tearful statement.

 

"Turn on the waterworks and the badness will go away" is something that many women learn at an early age.

 

She wasn't really crying and it looked very staged.

 

If she didn't do anything wrong, why is she apologizing??

Life 101: if you've done nothing wrong you have no need to apologize.

[mikeyme56]

 

She obviously had no intention of closing that card up until she was forced to do so. She maxes it out, then made steady payments of ~$1,000 every month until April, continuing to use the card regularly.

 

The apparent sequence of events after C&G contacts her seems really odd. Payments of $6,000+ in April and $14,000+ in May, but she's also still running up $3,500+ in charges in May, including for groceries at Weis? These don't sound like a coordinated plan to take care of the situation. It sounds like someone was trying to take care of it as quickly as possible, and someone else was taking advantage of the large payment made in April to shop for a fabulous new wardrobe in May - someone who buys women's clothing and shops at Our Country Hearts.

 

Somebody who had $20,000 liquid like that wouldn't have needed to hijack the card in the first place, so who made the payments? Then I think about the story you told about Paul's remarks, having to sell off assets to cover up Debbie's actions and the story that she was using Paul's credit cards after he passed. It makes me wonder. Did Paul get clued into this at the last minute and start desperately trying to scrape together the money to take care of his wife's latest trainwreck? Could the situation have really been that out of control?

 

Good Lord.

 

never thought of that angle.....anything is possible....it certainly seems that she had problems with binge shopping....my understanding is that the APD embezzlement was under similar circumstances (now hearing, that it also involved purchase of a car for her boyfriend).......the whole thing makes my wife and I ill....especially when she tried to blame others for her husbands death.......Paul Preston was a good man....he did good things for the town of Conklin.....his memory is being mixed in with the mess his wife created.....makes my wife and also myself angry.

[Bingoloid]

I just listened to the tearful statement.

 

"Turn on the waterworks and the badness will go away" is something that many women learn at an early age.

 

She wasn't really crying and it looked very staged.

 

If she didn't do anything wrong, why is she apologizing??

Life 101: if you've done nothing wrong you have no need to apologize.

 

I thought the highlight was when she set off every BS detector in the room prefacing the blackmail story with "I won't lie to you".

 

Why? Why would you stipulate that this, of all the things that you've just said, is not a lie? Why would you even consider that someone would think you're lying about that, when that's your so-very-super-true cover story? How would it ever occur to you to think that we might worry you're going to lie and say "I have not had anyone attempt to blackmail me over this"?

 

You say that when you're about to admit to something and want to make it sound like you deserve credit for honesty.

 

"I won't lie to you, there's a good chance I'm that kid's real father."

 

Anything else? You say it because you're lying and want to distract people from the obviousness of it.

 

"I won't lie to you, I definitely did not sleep with his wife."

 

Most of the reporters sounded like they were trying not to laugh questioning her about it.