A Buddhist monk faces trial in March on charges he embezzled more than $200,000 from his Lafayette temple to feed a casino gambling habit

A Buddhist monk faces trial in March on charges he embezzled more than $200,000 from his Lafayette temple to feed a casino gambling habit.

Khang Nguyen Le was scheduled to plead guilty on Wednesday to wire fraud charges. But The Advocate reports (http://bit.ly/1TTMGKc) that the plea agreement fell apart when Le told a federal judge that he couldn't understand how the charges applied to his case.

"I can't accept that," Le said through a translator.

Le defended his actions during the hearing and denied he intended to take cash from the bank accounts for the Vietnamese Buddhist Association of Southeast Louisiana Inc.

"My intent was never to steal money from the temple," Le told U.S. Magistrate Judge Patrick Hanna.

Le served as the temple's presiding monk from 2010 through October 2014, when he stepped down amid the investigation. His indictment last year said he withdrew money from temple accounts and used it for gambling at casinos in Lake Charles and elsewhere.

The indictment says Le lived and worked at the temple and earned a salary of $1,000 per month.

In a court filing last year, a federal agent said Le "admitted to having a gambling problem" and told investigators that he would spend up to $10,000 playing blackjack during his frequent trips to L'Auberge Casino in Lake Charles.

Le "said the church members would frown upon him even going to the casino if they knew; therefore, Le hid his gambling activity," the agent wrote.

Le told investigators that he always went to the casino alone, and congregation members never asked to see bank account statements.

The agent said bank records showed Le had withdrawn nearly $375,000 from temple and personal bank accounts either at L'Auberge Casino or on days when he traveled to the casino.

Le was arrested in September at LaGuardia International Airport in New York after he got off a flight from Dallas, before he could board a flight bound for Toronto, according to court records. Le's attorney, David Mayeux, has said his client was traveling to Canada to pick up a car for a friend and drive it down to Texas.

Marksville baseball coach no longer employed after embezzlement charge in Louisiana

A former Marksville high baseball coach has been sentenced for embezzling thousands of dollars from a group he use to work for.

33-year-old Timothy Daigle pleaded guilty in September to a federal fraud charge. He was accused of stealing nearly $100,000 from a nonprofit that helped low-income families repair their homes.

Daigle has been sentenced to 90 days in jail, but the judge allowed him to finish out the current school year as the baseball coach.

However, after speaking with Avoyelles Parish superintendent Blaine Dauzat Thursday morning, we learned that Daigle is no longer an employee of the school district. The move was made Monday. Dauzat says the school district was unaware of the pending charges on Daigle when he was hired in August. A full background check was done on him at the time of his hiring, but came back clean.

Harvey school clerk accused of embezzling $75,000, blames armed robber

Just before the winter holiday break in 2013, the accounts clerk at Helen Cox High School reported an astonishing crime. She told investigators that an armed robber showed up at the Harvey school's office and made off with potentially thousands of dollars in cash and checks, all of it collected from students for senior dues, candy sales and other school functions such as dances, according to Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office records.

But after school officials investigated, they pointed to the clerk herself as the culprit. Nieli Hebert, 45, is suspected of embezzling about $75,000 over more than a year, according to a new audit and Sheriff's Office records. Prosecutors are trying to decide whether to charge Hebert with a crime, her attorney said Tuesday.

Soon after Hebert reported the robbery, she resigned. School system officials began to examine Cox's books and talk to other employees. They eventually told police that Hebert might have stolen the money, and the Sheriff's Office arrested her March 31.

Witnesses told investigators that Hebert received cash and checks collected by teachers for the student activity fund. She entered the amounts in her computer and gave receipts to teachers.

Later, however, she allegedly changed the computer entries to subtract the cash amounts, leaving only the check amounts in the school records and depositing only the checks in the school's bank account. Schools officials say they discovered the discrepancies after teachers submitted original receipts, showing amounts that differed from the figures in the computer records. The alleged pilfering began in fall 2012 and continued through December 2013, officials said.

Hebert told police she did not steal any money. She said schools officials might have changed the records to make it appear as though she did, in retaliation for a 2010 lawsuit she filed against the school system for racial discrimination.

Her attorney, Juan Labadie, said no similar financial problems were reported during the 25 years that Hebert worked for the school system. "They never had any problems with her whatsoever. They always passed her financial reviews with the schools perfectly," he said.

He said the district attorney's office is still screening her case.

Despite Hebert's report of an armed robbery at the school, and her subsequent arrest, neither development has been reported in the news media until now. Word of the alleged embezzlement surfaced in the school system's annual audit, performed by the Carr, Riggs & Ingram accounting firm of Metairie and delivered in December to school system officials. Sheriff's Office records obtained in recent days provide other information, including Hebert's name and booking information.  

The school system recouped most of the missing money, $71,060, through insurance claims, officials said. To prevent future similar theft, officials pledged better tracking of school finances and investigations of any accounting changes. The student activity accounting system is now web-based, which means reports may be run from the school system's central office, instead of through Cox's servers, and school personnel may not change the reports.

These types of incidents aren't isolated. In 2011, three former Jefferson schools employees pleaded guilty in federal court to conspiring to embezzle money that should have been spent on tutoring and remediation for students. And at two charter organizations in New Orleans, Lusher Charter School and KIPP New Orleans, employees heisted thousands in school funds in 2011 and 2013.

KIPP New Orleans charter school employee embezzled $70,000, audit says

An employee of New Orleans' second-largest charter school network embezzled $69,840 in the 2012-13 academic year, according to an audit released Monday. The money has been recovered, the employee was fired and a criminal investigation is underway, KIPP spokesman Jonathan Bertsch said.

Short for "Knowledge Is Power Program," KIPP New Orleans educates 3,755 students, or 8 percent of New Orleans' public school enrollment. It will open its sixth school this summer. The network received $37.4 million in public money in 2012-13, according to the audit report.
The fired employee worked in the organization's central administration office and took two checks in April 2013 from batches waiting to be sent to vendors. The second time, the employee signed on to a co-worker's computer and created the check herself.

The theft was discovered when the vendors asked why they hadn't been paid. KIPP administration reported the matter to the police, bank and insurance company. The employee admitted to the theft and was immediately fired.

Auditors said the theft could happen because the accounts payable department both created and mailed checks. Management has since changed procedures so signed checks are sent out by people who are not in the accounts payable department.

Bertsch would not name the employee, a woman, citing the criminal investigation. There was no interruption to any programs, he said. The network conducts background checks on all its hires.
"We want to spend every dollar that we can on educating our students," Bertsch said. "We're very grateful to the support and the work done by the NOPD on the theft."

Also in the audit, examiners found clerical errors involving $3,155 billed to a federal school improvement grant. In several cases, payroll expenses did not line up with an employee's salary, or the wrong percentage of employees' time was charged to the grant. A total of $414 in costs did not have the right supporting documentation.

In a written response to the state, KIPP Finance Director Renae' Montegut said there was a complete turnover in accounting staff. A new staff member submitted grant reimbursement requests without knowing an employee's salary had changed. Some of the accounting was handled by a temporary employee who has since been replaced by "an experienced grant accountant" who is being trained by the Louisiana Association of School Business Officials.

Overall, the auditors recommended that KIPP assess its staffing needs and consider hiring more employees. Bertsch said KIPP brought in consultants to conduct a policy and procedure review. Now "we're fully staffed in our finance and accounting team," he said, and "we have a lot of confidence in their ability to do this work."

Two charged in LSU Eunice embezzlement

Two of the former LSU Eunice employees implicated in federal fund theft were formally charged in federal court Wednesday.

Marvette Thomas, former Office of Academic Assistance director, and Carra Sergent, former OAA assistant director, were each charged with one count of theft of federal funds. Internal and legislative audits late last year and early this year revealed nearly $160,000 in federal student assistance money had been improperly used for personal purchases.

Thomas is accused of illegally spending $68,464 and Sergent is said to have spent $74,653. Two other employees implicated in both audits were not charged.

Allegedly purchased items detailed in the legislative audit include iPads, exercise equipment, video game consoles and Grambling State University apparel. According to court documents, Thomas and Sergent are accused of making the purchases between September 2008 and February 2012. Each had resigned from LSUE before the internal audit was released.

Prosecutors want the two to forfeit their alleged purchases so the money can be returned to LSUE, which has independently paid back the federal money and seeks reimbursement.

The case is in federal court because LSUE receives at least $10,000 in federal funds annually.

A hearing date was not set as of press time.

Violet woman arrested in church embezzlement works for St. Bernard finance department in Louisiana

FROM NOLA.COM -


She has no contact with contracts, money, checks... It's just paperwork." -- President Dave Peralta
A Violet woman accused of stealing more than $100,000 from the church where she worked is employed by the St. Bernard Parish government's finance department and will remain there. Parish President Dave Peralta confirmed the woman's status with the parish on Wednesday, but said Trinette Johnson is in a clerical position and does not work with cash or checks.

Johnson, 39, surrendered on April 19 to the parish jail after learning that a judge had signed a warrant for her arrest on a felony theft charge, according to the St. Bernard Parish Sheriff's Office. She is accused of embezzling money from the church since 2006.

Peralta said Johnson manages project worksheets for the parish's FEMA projects and her salary is paid through FEMA funds.

"It's just processing invoices and stuff like that," Peralta said. "She has no contact with contracts, money, checks. It's just paperwork. It's an office position, a clerical position, that is all."

Peralta said that Johnson is one of five people who is a full-time parish employee assigned as a liaison with CDM Smith, which is contracted to manage recovery projects.


Peralta said the parish checked over Johnson's work after her arrest "and everything looked fine."

He said if she is convicted of the felony theft charge, "I would conduct an internal investigation in regards to the conviction and then determine whether to let her go.

"It's an accusation at this time," Peralta said. "Until there is a disposition in the courts, I am not taking any action. It is not part of government. If this were a part of government, it would be different."

The Sheriff's Office opened its investigation into the church embezzlement case after being asked to do so by church officials, the Sheriff's Office said last month.

Johnson was a longtime secretary and account executive for the Greater Mount Olive Missionary Baptist Church, 1904 Goodwill Drive in Violet, according to the Sheriff's Office. The church discovered that money was missing after a financial audit. The church's board of trustees reviewed the report from the auditing firm and alleged that Johnson had misappropriated $101,872 in church funds since Aug. 16, 2006, according to the Sheriff's Office.

In February, the Sheriff's Office was presented with a letter signed by 33 members of the church that said the church wanted to pursue criminal charges in the matter. The church also handed over bank records going back to March 2006 and information that a forensic specialist with a CPA firm had been retained to identify the suspected theft of church funds.

Johnson currently is out of jail on a $10,000 bond, the Sheriff's Office confirmed on Wednesday.

Sheriff: Longtime church official embezzled over $100K in Louisiana

A church secretary in St. Bernard Parish was arrested for what authorities said was systematic embezzlement of more than $100,000 from her church.
Trinette Johnson, 39, is suspected of embezzling more than $100,000 since 2006, the sheriff’s office said.

Church Deacon Ken Jefferson said for at least four years, he's questioned the church finances.

"The savings went up from $115,000, and the checking had $78,000 to start off. Maybe in less than a year, the money dropped to about $30,000," said Jefferson.

By February, Jefferson said he could no longer turn a blind eye.

"After the church was broke, after we had a negative balance, that's when we started investigating what really was going on," said Jefferson.

Jefferson and other church leaders hired an auditor to look into what they suspect was theft of church funds.

Johnson, of Violet, was the longtime church secretary and account executive for the Greater Mount Olive Missionary Baptist Church in Violet.

She surrendered at the parish jail on Friday after she was informed by investigators that a judge had signed an arrest warrant on charges of felony theft by systematic embezzlement.

She was expected to be released on bond set at $10,000, the sheriff’s office sai


According to investigators, Johnson is accused of systematically misappropriating $101,872 of church funds since Aug. 16, 2006.

"There was a lot of double payments, writing a check for one thing, and then turn around and do a check for reimbursement for the same thing," said Elder Stacy Riley Jr.

At the end of February, the sheriff's office said it was presented a letter signed by 33 members of the church saying the body of the church at Greater Mount Olive Missionary Baptist Church wanted to pursue criminal charges in a matter where church funds were missing.

The department was presented with evidence, including a copy of the church banking records going back to March 2006.

"It's not a rich community," said Jefferson. "People are struggling every day paying their bills, but they're still paying their tithes because they believe in what God's word says, and then you take the money that they're putting into the church to better the community. I just feel like she must not believe in God."

Riley said he regrets that the congregation didn’t take more precautions and create more checks and balances with church finances.

"It was basically disheartening to see that a church that's rich in history and tradition in the parish was struggling financially," said Riley.

New Orleans Police Department says feds now looking into 2011 embezzlement from Lusher Charter School

The New Orleans Police Department is working with federal investigators in an embezzlement case from 2011 at Lusher Charter School that so far has led to no charges against the admitted embezzler.

“They are interested in moving forward with a federal prosecution,” Officer Garry Flot, police spokesman, said Wednesday via email.

Lauren Hightower, a former accountant at the Uptown school, was discovered by administrators to have forged signatures on checks adding up to $25,800. The investigation into her activities is focused on the forgeries.

The school started investigating the matter after an administrator noticed that some checks were missing. Hightower admitted writing one check for $5,000, but according to the police report, the school found that six checks for the school’s account at Whitney National Bank had been cashed.

Hightower was fired from her post; she later returned the money. School officials said she reported herself to the State Board of Certified Public Accountants, which licenses CPAs. Her license has been revoked, according to the agency’s website.

Hightower has not been charged with theft or embezzlement. The detective on the case, Michael Riley, told the Lens in March that the speedy return of the money by Hightower’s lawyer rendered the theft charge a “moot issue.”

Instead, Riley said, the police had turned its attention to forgery charges. He said that Hightower would be charged by the end of March. A month later, no charges have been filed.

Flot said that Riley has been talking with a representative from the Inspector General wing of the U.S. Department of Education, along with Assistant U.S. Attorney Tracey Knight and the Orleans Parish District Attorney’s Office, over how to proceed.

The U.S. Attorney’s office was not immediately available for comment. A message left with the District Attorney’s office was not immediately returned.

Audit: Lusher employee embezzled $25,000 from school in New Orleans

An employee in the accounting department at Lusher Charter School embezzled $25,000 last school year by forging five checks she wrote to herself from the school’s bank account, according to an audit report obtained by The Lens.
The audit report doesn’t identify the “high ranking employee in the Business Office,” who was ultimately fired. Nor did Lusher CEO Kathy Riedlinger, though she did say the woman had worked at the school for three years.
She said the theft was reported to the New Orleans Police Department.
The audit says, “The total amount stolen is believed to be $25,000, and all was recovered from the dismissed employee.” Auditors recommended that the school keep a closer eye on its blank checks, and in January, the school did develop procedures to do so.
Riedlinger said the school “moved the checks into our safe. And the only people that have access to that are the CFO and me, the CEO.”
She credited the school’s procedures for detecting the theft. CFO Lynden Swayze “kept careful count of the checks” and “realized that several were missing.”

An employee in the accounting department at Lusher Charter School embezzled $25,000 last school year by forging five checks she wrote to herself from the school’s bank account, according to an audit report obtained by The Lens.
The audit report doesn’t identify the “high ranking employee in the Business Office,” who was ultimately fired. Nor did Lusher CEO Kathy Riedlinger, though she did say the woman had worked at the school for three years.
She said the theft was reported to the New Orleans Police Department.
The audit says, “The total amount stolen is believed to be $25,000, and all was recovered from the dismissed employee.” Auditors recommended that the school keep a closer eye on its blank checks, and in January, the school did develop procedures to do so.
Riedlinger said the school “moved the checks into our safe. And the only people that have access to that are the CFO and me, the CEO.”
She credited the school’s procedures for detecting the theft. CFO Lynden Swayze “kept careful count of the checks” and “realized that several were missing.”
It took a few months for the school to get the money back, Riedlinger said.

An employee in the accounting department at Lusher Charter School embezzled $25,000 last school year by forging five checks she wrote to herself from the school’s bank account, according to an audit report obtained by The Lens.
The audit report doesn’t identify the “high ranking employee in the Business Office,” who was ultimately fired. Nor did Lusher CEO Kathy Riedlinger, though she did say the woman had worked at the school for three years.
She said the theft was reported to the New Orleans Police Department.
The audit says, “The total amount stolen is believed to be $25,000, and all was recovered from the dismissed employee.” Auditors recommended that the school keep a closer eye on its blank checks, and in January, the school did develop procedures to do so.
Riedlinger said the school “moved the checks into our safe. And the only people that have access to that are the CFO and me, the CEO.”
She credited the school’s procedures for detecting the theft. CFO Lynden Swayze “kept careful count of the checks” and “realized that several were missing.”
It took a few months for the school to get the money back, Riedlinger said.

 An employee in the accounting department at Lusher Charter School embezzled $25,000 last school year by forging five checks she wrote to herself from the school’s bank account, according to an audit report obtained by The Lens.

The audit report doesn’t identify the “high ranking employee in the Business Office,” who was ultimately fired. Nor did Lusher CEO Kathy Riedlinger, though she did say the woman had worked at the school for three years.

She said the theft was reported to the New Orleans Police Department.

The audit says, “The total amount stolen is believed to be $25,000, and all was recovered from the dismissed employee.” Auditors recommended that the school keep a closer eye on its blank checks, and in January, the school did develop procedures to do so.

Riedlinger said the school “moved the checks into our safe. And the only people that have access to that are the CFO and me, the CEO.”

She credited the school’s procedures for detecting the theft. CFO Lynden Swayze “kept careful count of the checks” and “realized that several were missing.”

It took a few months for the school to get the money back, Riedlinger said.

This isn’t the first time a business employee has been accused of stealing from a charter school. In 2010, Kelly Thompson was sentenced to five years in prison for stealing $660,000 while business manager at Langston Hughes Academy.

Lusher’s auditors also cited the school for failing to record some financial transactions and failing to track its federal and state grant expenses. Charters must submit paperwork to the school board to be reimbursed for federal grants.

The school didn’t track $407,000 in federal grant expenses, according to the report, and it didn’t submit reimbursement requests to the parish school board for those costs. In the course of the audit, the school tracked and submitted those requests.

The school also had $243,000 recorded in grant reimbursements the previous school year, but that money actually wasn’t received. Auditors adjusted the school’s financial records to account for the discrepancy.

The school also missed its deadline to submit the audit to the Orleans Parish School Board. The report is dated Friday; it was due Sept. 30.

The report says the delay was caused by the amount of work it took to reconcile financial records.

A New Orleans police report on embezzlement at Lusher Charter School provides more details regarding the theft of $25,000 last school year, including the name of the employee involved.
Accounting office employee Lauren Hightower, 30, forged the signature of Lusher Chief Executive Officer Kathy Riedlinger and others on six checks, according to the report released Friday to The Lens.

The theft at Lusher came to light through an audit report made public last week that said only that a “high ranking employee in the business office” embezzled the money.

Lusher officials tightened internal controls over blank checks in response to the theft.

Hightower has not been charged with a crime, and the investigation is ongoing, New Orleans Police spokesman Officer Garry Flot said.

Reached by phone, Hightower declined to comment.

Riedlinger said Friday that the school reported the theft to the police, the district attorney and the legislative auditor, asking each to “pursue this to the fullest.”

The forged checks were discovered by school Chief Financial Officer Lynden Swayze.

According to the police report:

Swayze told police that Hightower initially told her she’d taken 11 checks and cashed one $5,000 check. Hightower then told Swayze that she shredded the 10 checks that were left.

Swayze requested copies of the school’s checks from Whitney Bank and found that Hightower had actually written out five checks to herself for $5,000 each, and an $800 check made payable to cash.

The checks showed forged signatures in the name of Riedlinger, Swayze, middle school Principal Brenda Bourne and high school Principal Wiley Ates, according to Swayze’s rendering of the incident.

Police officers confiscated copies of the forged checks for evidence.

ook a few months for the school to get the money back, Riedlinger said.

Louisiana School boards association chief fired

FROM THEADVERTISER.COM -

Louisiana School Boards Association Executive Director Nolton Senegal has been fired amid an investigation of embezzled funds by an LSBA employee.

Senegal reportedly was aware on the ongoing misuse of funds and did not report it to the association.
An official statement from LSBA President Darrin Manuel says “At the meeting of its Board of Directors of September 9, 2011, the Louisiana School Boards Association took action to remove Nolton J. Senegal, Sr., from his position as executive director.
“Such action followed an investigation into allegations of misappropriation of funds by a member of the LSBA staff. Mr. Senegal has served as Executive Director since July 2007. He is a former member of the Acadia Parish School Board who has served as the president of LSBA for two terms.”
Manuel said that the association’s attorney has advised against making comments.
“This has been something of an on-going matter,” Manuel said. “Once is was brought to our attention, we acted on it as quickly as possible.”
Currently, the investigation is “in the hands of an assistant attorney general and a forensic auditor,” said Don Whittinghill, spokesman for the LSBA. He said three accounts are being audited.
Lloyd Dressel, director of business and Finance for the organization, was named interim executive director.