A former Cambridge resident was taken into custody today following his arraignment on charges that he used his position as a payroll contractor to steal three-quarters of a million dollars from a health care center that served some of the city’s poorest residents, Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel F. Conley said.

The target of an 18-count indictment charging him with stealing $750,000 from the Harvard Street Neighborhood Health Center, NZERIBE McKENZIE (D.O.B. 1/24/78) was handcuffed at his arraignment in Suffolk Superior Court and held in lieu of $7,500 cash bail.

McKenzie is charged with five counts of larceny over $250 by continuous scheme and 13 counts of making false entries on corporate books. Both offenses are felonies punishable by up to five years and 10 years in state prison, respectively.

“At a time when the Harvard Street Neighborhood Health Center was struggling to pay its electrical bills, the defendant was driving a luxury car home to a penthouse apartment,” Conley said. “This scheme didn’t just victimize a non-profit agency. It victimized the poor, the sick, and the elderly who depend upon it for services.”

Conley’s chief fraud prosecutor, Assistant District Attorney Edward Beagan, outlined the case against McKenzie in court today, saying the defendant began working for the health center as a contractor in 2001, processing payroll data and performing related tasks. In 2008, he was hired on as an employee.

McKenzie’s successor in the payroll department found major financial irregularities in the records and notified health center management, Beagan said. When the health center brought in a new CEO, Beagan said, an audit was undertaken and revealed the theft to be much larger. The new administration promptly brought the information to Conley’s office.

“The Harvard Street leadership has been helpful and cooperative throughout our investigation,” Conley said.

Sifting through thousands of bank statements and financial records, and using the power of the Suffolk County Special Grand Jury to compel testimony and subpoena business documents, prosecutors labored for months in partnership with the US Postal Service Financial Crimes Task Force.

“The result is an extremely strong, extremely compelling case,” Conley said. “Unfortunately, it’s also extremely sad given the losses suffered by an organization dedicated solely to helping our community.”

Prosecutors say McKenzie used his exclusive access to the health center’s payroll firm to issue scores of unauthorized checks between 2003 and 2008. Those checks were made payable to individuals and business entities and deposited into bank accounts controlled by McKenzie, who later altered or destroyed records of the checks.

In 2006, McKenzie purchased a Lamborghini Gallardo. The next year, he purchased a Lamborghini Murcielago. He also bought or leased Cadillacs, BMWs, Lincolns, and Mercedes vehicles. He purchased a penthouse apartment in Cambridge overlooking the Charles River and Boston beyond it.

“You have to wonder whether he could look out his window at night and see the very health center that paid for his luxury lifestyle, struggling to keep its lights on,” Conley said. “You have to wonder if that sight had any effect at all on his conscience.”

Today, Beagan said in court, the cars have all been sold or repossessed and the penthouse mortgage is in arrears and facing foreclosure. Across town, the Harvard Street Neighborhood Health Center has made tremendous progress in modernizing its services and stabilizing its financial condition but still faces “a mountain of debt” stemming from the losses it suffered through 2008.

McKenzie is represented by attorney James E. McCall. His trial is scheduled for Feb. 15, 2012, and he will return to court on July 11.