A Skaneateles woman blames drug addiction and a dying husband for her allegedly stealing money from a veterans organization, police said.

State police with the Elbridge station charged Linda Conner, 47, with two counts of grand larceny and two counts of falsifying business records and forgery for allegedly taking $40,000 from American Legion Post 317.

Conner was the bookkeeper and therefore had access to the records.

Since July, she allegedly has taken money from two accounts from the Skaneateles Falls post, including from the post's auxiliary, Investigator David Longo said.

She had to forge signatures for at least one of the two accounts, he said.

Conner admitted she took the money and did appear regretful, Longo added.

“She said it was problems at home, a terminally ill husband and a drug problem,” Longo said.

Officials from the Legion post discovered money was missing in December.

“They did their own investigations and went back to why (they were short money) through banking statements,” Longo said.

The state police investigated for a couple days to determine the amount of money before confronting Conner, of 4617 Phillips St., Skaneateles.

She was arraigned in Skaneateles Town Court and was released on $10,000 cash or bond, Longo said.

Calls to the Conner home were not answered.