Nicole Leone’s theft of more than $32,000 from the Erie Humane Society left the nonprofit organization with an uncertain financial future and questions about whether it could be trusted with donors’ money.
The Humane Society said it since has recovered from the embezzlement and the actions of Leone, who was its executive director when she used Humane Society credit cards to make unauthorized purchases for personal expenses, including for clothing, sunglasses, household items, hotel stays and Botox.
Leone will have to deal with the aftermath of the crime for at least the next three years and seven months.
The 42-year-old Erie resident has resolved her case by pleading guilty to a felony theft charge, making full restitution and receiving a sentence of seven months of house arrest while on electronic monitoring.
She must also serve three years of probation following house arrest and perform 200 hours of community service.
Leone pleaded guilty and was sentenced on Jan. 16 in Erie County Common Pleas Court. The sentence came at the end of a hearing at which Humane Society officials decried the thefts, which occurred in 2023 and 2024, and said Leone abused the trust of the organization and the animals in its care.
Leone’s actions were “heinous and heartless,” the president of the Humane Society’s board of directors, Jennifer Gornall, said to Erie County President Judge John J. Mead.
Gornall said the thefts jeopardized the Humane Society’s financial stability and trust among donors. Gornall also said the thefts exposed Leone’s emotional public expressions of support for the society’s animals “to be patently false.”
“Shame on you,” Gornall said to Leone.
More criticism, and Leone apologizes
Leone led the Humane Society for nine years until she resigned before she was charged in late 2024. Her annual salary when she left was $95,000, the Humane Society’s former treasurer, Emily Baker, said in court.
Baker told Mead that she was treasurer from 2021 to 2024 — a period that included the thefts. Baker said Leone deliberately “circumvented internal controls” to use the Humane Society credit cards to buy personal items, including Botox treatment.
The Humane Society trusted Leone, Baker said, and “that trust was profoundly misplaced.”
The District Attorney’s Office and the defense agreed to the sentence for Leone, and the sentence had the “full support of the Humane Society,” Chief Deputy District Attorney Steven Liboski said in court. Mead imposed the sentence immediately after he accepted Leone’s guilty plea.
Leone cried as she apologized.
“I am very sorry,” she told Mead. “I will not be back here.”
Leone makes full restitution at sentencing
Restitution was a critical part of the resolution of the case for Leone, whom Millcreek Township police charged in December 2024. The final amount of the thefts totaled $32,445.69.
Leone’s lawyer, Chad Vilushis, provided two checks at the hearing that covered the restitution in full. One was for $25,000 to Erie Insurance Group, which covered some of the loss. The other was for $7,445.69 and went to the Humane Society.
“This makes full and restitution today, which is rare,” Vilushis said in court.
He said the sentence of house arrest and probation was appropriate for Leone, who had no prior record.
Leone was married after she was charged. The Humane Society officials referred to her in court as Nicole Leone Conway.
“It is undisputed that she did a lot of good for the Humane Society,” Vilishus said in court. He also said her “poor decisions” hurt the organization.
Liboski, the prosecutor, said the plea deal considered Leone’s lack of prior record and the payment of full restitution as well as the scope and deliberate nature of the embezzlement.
“This was not simply a snap decision,” Liboski said of thefts.
Mead agreed. He referred to Leone’s lack of a prior record, but said the thefts were disturbing “especially for how the money was spent.”
Leone faced a maximum possible sentence of seven years in state prison for her guilty plea to the third-degree felony of theft by deception. Her lack of prior record made her eligible for restrictive probation. Mead’s sentence of house arrest and probation was in the aggravated range of the state sentencing guidelines, Liboski said.
The District Attorney’s Office dropped two charges in the plea bargain: a third-degree felony of access device fraud and the first-degree misdemeanor of tampering with records.
Leone waived the charges against her to court at a preliminary hearing in January. She has been free on an unsecured bond of $50,000.
Humane Society launched criminal probe
Leone resigned from the Humane Society in November 2024, a month before the Millcreek police charged her.
“This is voluntary. I am pursuing other opportunities,” Leone said at the time. “I’m not at liberty to talk about these opportunities at this time.”
The Humane Society in August named Joe Lang, a former Erie broadcaster and media executive, as its executive director.
The Humane Society initiated the criminal investigation of Leone. Officials at the Humane Society, on Zimmerly Road in Millcreek, asked to meet with a Millcreek police detective shortly after Leone resigned, according to the affidavit of probable cause for the criminal complaint against Leone. The probe uncovered the unauthorized use of the credit cards.
Humane Society says Leone’s case ‘has not broken’ it
A $2,029.48 purchase from a local bicycle shop particularly caught the attention of the Humane Society, according to the affidavit.
“The purchase was supposed to be for one bicycle to be raffled off as part of a Humane Society fundraiser,” according to the affidavit.
When the Humane Society treasurer went to the bicycle shop, according to the affidavit, she found that two bicycles had been purchased, including one purchased for the raffle.
The other bicycle, purchased for $1,346.18, matched a bicycle shown on Leone’s personal social media account, police said.
The thefts and Leone’s deception damaged the Humane Society in the short term, Gornall, the board president, said at he sentencing. She said the selection of a new executive director has helped the organization regain stability after suffering from the embezzlement and what she described as Leone’s broken trust.
Leone’s criminal case, Gornall said, “has not broken the Erie Humane Society.”
