A former NYU chemistry department administrator pleaded guilty this morning to pocketing some$400,000 in a bizarre phony invoice scheme.

In pleading guilty to second degree larceny, John Runowicz admitted he pocketed the money by submitting to the university Bursars office stacks and stacks of cash register receipts he’d fished out of the trash of a liquor store near his offices, on broadway.

The Bursars office never checked the submitted receipts— had they, they’d have seen the words “Warehouse Wines, 735 Broadway” printed at the tops.

Runowicz faces a sentence of between one to three years when he turns himself in at Manhattan Supreme Court on July 14.

He declined comment as he left court.