Original Article Taxpayer ripoff Schools chief admits theft of millions at N.Y. district Frank Eltman Associated Press Sept. 27, 2005 12:00 AM MINEOLA, N.Y. - For years, ex-Roslyn schools chief Frank Tassone admitted, he stole millions of dollars in taxpayer money to finance everything from his breakfast bagels to European jaunts on the Concorde. His next big journey on the taxpayers' dime will be to prison. Tassone, 58, of Manhattan, pleaded guilty Monday to first- and second-degree grand larceny before Nassau County Judge Alan Honorof in a scandal that state Comptroller Alan Hevesi has called "the largest, most remarkable, most extraordinary theft" from a school system in American history. Tassone will spend four to 12 years in prison and pay back $2 million. If convicted at trial, he could have faced 25 years. Four other people have been charged. Further arrests are anticipated. An audit earlier this year found that $11.2 million had been pilfered from 1996 to 2004, although prosecutors have been able to link less than $7 million to the current defendants.