A former civilian manager who stole nearly $564,000 from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point has been sentenced to prison for a year and a day for theft of government funds and money laundering.
U.S. District Court Judge Cathy Seibel also ordered Diana Martucci on Oct. 15 to pay restitution to West Point.
Martucci, of Lagrangeville, worked as an assistant program manager for the Directorate of Cadet Activities. As an assistant program manager she was authorized to use West Point credit cards to pay for cadets’ extracurricular activities.
She used two schemes to enrich herself, from October 2021 through June 2024.
She embezzled $362,393 by setting up a PayPal account, DCA Westpoint, for receiving funds from West Point’s bank. Then she moved the funds to another PayPal account, and from there to several bank accounts she controlled. She withdrew cash at ATMs and bought merchandise, such as a $2,400 Gucci tote bag.
In the second scheme, Martucci used West Point credit cards to pay $201,376 to Enterprise Rent-A-Car in Poughkeepsie. She made 17 transactions in a 84-month period, for example, paying $34,476 last winter for a 12-week rental.
Martucci pleaded guilty to the charges this past June and stipulated in a plea agreement that she could be imprisoned for 24 to 30 months, under federal sentencing guidelines.
Defense attorney Jane White, of the Federal Defenders of New York, proposed five years of probation, in a sentencing letter to Judge Seibel.
In a heavily redacted letter that obscures many details of Martucci’s circumstances, White depicts a vulnerable woman who was subjected to abusive relationships with men, betrayals and broken marriages, and struggles to survive financially while raising three children on her own.
For women like Martucci, White says, motherhood is central: maintaining a consistent home address, schooling, and supporting the children’s activities. Her job at West Point enabled her to survive and to prove to herself that she could make it on her own. But as her relationships faltered and her life spiraled out of control, she began stealing.
White describes the “falsehood of magical thinking,” where a traumatized individual believes she can end the abuse if she just gives her abuser what he wants.
“For Diana, this way of thinking was her mode of survival, not just in her coercive relationships with men, but also in her life. She closed her eyes to reality and just kept going.”
Magical thinking is not an excuse, White says, and Martucci accepts responsibility for her conduct.
Family and friends attested to Martucci’s character and devotion to family, in letters submitted to the court. She does volunteer work with autistic children, she is “selfless” and “big hearted,” they noted.
Several writers commented on her children, ages 10, 14, and 17.
“If you want a true picture of who Diana is,” an uncle stated in a letter to the judge, “you need to meet her three children.” She instilled faith and strong values, and the children are smart, respectful, and well-adjusted. “Her children are the best example of her values and how she lives her life.”
Assistant federal prosecutor Jared D. Hoffman recommend a prison sentence within the federal guidelines of 24 to 30 months.
“The government is sympathetic to the trauma and abuse the defendant endured throughout her life, and acknowledges that she has clearly accepted responsibility for her actions,” his letter states.
But her crime was serious and deserves serious punishment. It lasted for years, not months. It required planning, deception and sustained effort. She concealed her theft through a complicated pattern of money laundering. West Point relied on her integrity to manage taxpayer money, and she exploited that trust.
“A guidelines sentence, Hoffman says, “is necessary to promote deterrence and respect for the law.”
Judge Seibel also sentenced Martucci to three years of supervision after she is released from prison. She ordered Martucci to surrender to the Bureau of Prisons by Dec. 15.
