MINEOLA, N.Y. (AP) – A Manhattan man pleaded guilty Wednesday to grand larceny for his role in the $7 million looting of a Long Island school system, cutting a deal that ensures he will spend no more than three years in state prison.

Stephen Signorelli, 60, of Manhattan, reached the plea bargain to settle a nine-count indictment against him in the case involving the affluent Roslyn school system. If convicted at trial of the top count against him, Signorelli could have faced up to 15 years behind bars.

His plea to second-degree grand larceny comes with a promise of a one-to-three year maximum term from Nassau County Court Judge Alan L. Honorof. Signorelli admitted falsifying business records to steal $219,000 from the school district.

“I received in excess of $50,000 from the Roslyn school district to which I was not entitled,” Signorelli said.

“Using other words, you stole the money from the Roslyn school district?” Honorof asked.

“Yes, I did,” he replied.

Signorelli, a computer specialist employed by New York City, is the longtime gay partner of ex-Roslyn Schools Superintendent Frank Tassone.

Tassone pleaded guilty in September 2005 in the scandal that state Comptroller Alan Hevesi called “the most extraordinary theft” from a school system in American history. A state audit found $11.2 million was swiped from the district between 1996 and 2004, although prosecutors only linked about $7 million to Tassone and his co-defendants.

The money was used for Concorde flights to vacations in England, and to pay the mortgage on homes in Florida, the Hamptons and Pennsylvania.

As part of his deal, Tassone agreed to make $2 million in restitution – including the $219,000 pilfered by Signorelli. Tassone is expected to receive a jail term of 4-to-12 years at his Feb. 28 sentencing.

Tassone has already paid back $1.8 million, according to Signorelli’s attorney, Kenneth Weinstein.

Signorelli’s plea came after a ruling by Honorof that would have forced Tassone to testify against his lover of more than three decades. Tassone had argued that since he and Signorelli were registered domestic partners in New York City, he was protected from testifying under the state law protecting spouses from taking the witness stand against one another.

Honorof ruled that the protection was lost because the two men were co-conspirators. Three other defendants have pleaded guilty in the case, while a single defendant was still fighting the charges.

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