Former P.S. 29 PTA Treasurer Pleads Not Guilty

Former PTA treasurer Providence Hogan pleaded not guilty to embezzling $100,000 in school funds Wednesday in Brooklyn Supreme Court.

Hogan, a local mother and , that included charges of embezzlement and falsifying records. 

According to the indictment, Hogan made payments to the Brooklyn-Queens Conservatory of Music, charter bus services, American Express and Club Getaway in Kent, Connecticut, and then tried to conceal the wrongdoing.

Handcuffed and dressed in loose fitting clothing, Hogan, 43, held her head up for most of the 15-minute arraignment, only moving in an attempt to brush her hair from her face.

The prosecutor for the state, Kevin James from the School of Advocacy Bureau, asked Judge Suzanne Mondo to set bail at $100,000 and that a bail source hearing be required.

James said Hogan posed a "flight risk."

"Given the defendent's situation we think the number we have requested is more than appropriate," he said. "The defendent's business is failing, she owns no property, her husband is unemployed."

Hogan's attorney, Andrew S. Rendeiro of Flamhaft, Levy, Hirsh & Rendeiro Attorneys at Law, countered James' argument. Rendeiro said Hogan's husband Jack Hogan, who was present at the arraignment, has two jobs, one as an IT technician at a local school and one as as assistant to Rabbi Aaron L. Raskin of Chabad Lubavitch of Brooklyn Heights.

Rabbi Raskin and Rabbi Samuel H. Weintraub, of the in Cobble Hill, were present at the arraignment.

Rendeiro pleaded with Judge Mondo to consider Hogan's situation.

"This person might have been falling a little bit apart," he said, adding she was "trying to put her life back together."

Judge Mondo set the bail at $15,000 but denied the request for a bail source hearing. Hogan's grand jury date is set for May 4.

Following the arraignment, both Rendeiro and James had "no comment."