Treasurer Is Sentenced

Six hundred hours of community service and five years' probation was the sentence meted out last week to Lyllis Topping, the former treasurer of the Bridgehampton School District who was accused of embezzling more than $82,000 from the school.

She will be required to complete the community service within 10 months and within the county. It will be done through the American Red Cross office in Hauppauge.

Ms. Topping, who has paid back more than $86,000 to the district, was charged in Southampton Town Justice Court with second-degree grand larceny in December. She was allowed to plead guilty to a reduced charge of third-degree grand larceny, which carries a maximum jail sentence of seven years.

Figure In Dispute

Her Sag Harbor attorney, John O'Brien, said this week that the combination of full restitution, his client's lack of a prior record, and the absence of any violence in the crime "played a large part" in the plea bargain and the decision not to send her to jail.

"I think it was fair all the way around," Mr. O'Brien said, though he did note that Ms. Topping claims to have stolen less than $50,000, not the $82,000 alleged by the Suffolk District Attorney's office.

Despite her claim, she accepted the plea and paid full restitution, including interest lost, rather than risk a conviction on the greater crime and possible jail time, Mr. O'Brien said.

The sentence she received had been recommended by the chief of the D.A.'s Public Integrity Bureau, Michael Conlon, who handled the case. Judge Morton Weissman handed down his decision in County Criminal Court on Feb. 18.

P.T.O. Account

Ms. Topping, who still lives in Bridgehampton, was also the treasurer of the Parent Teacher Organization and a secretary in the school office. She confessed to having deposited state aid checks into the P.T.O. bank account rather than the district's main account, and then withdrawing the funds for her own use.

Her father, Paul Granger, took out a second mortgage to raise the money she needed to make restitution.

Mr. O'Brien said Ms. Topping took the money for "no particular reason . . . . She always intended to pay the money back."

She's "absolutely" happy the matter has been resolved, her attorney said. "She made a mistake and she is sorry."