Former Montco, Pennylvania fire academy official sent to prison for embezzlement

A former Montgomery County Fire Academy official who admitted embezzling $168,165 from Montgomery County Chiefs of Police Association and Montgomery County Fire Advisory Board funds he managed was sentenced to prison Wednesday.Robert M. Linsinbigler Jr., 55, who pleaded guilty to theft and forgery charges Feb. 23, was sentenced by Judge Steven T. O’Neill to 10 to 23 months in prison and seven years’ probation. Previously, he signed over his $120,000 county pension to put toward restitution and may also be forced to sell his East Norriton home to pay the rest.At his sentencing hearing Wednesday, the defendant’s wife, Patricia Linsinbigler, testified that in the past few years her husband “drank every day” and became distant from her and the family.The former official has been in treatment with Alcoholics Anonymous and hasn’t consumed alcohol for more than a year, according to court testimony.Linsinbigler, who has completed eight steps of a 12-step treatment program, testified that in recent years he drank beer at lunch and stayed out drinking after work.“It was a seven-day-a-week thing,” he said.The East Norriton man said he had lost about 80 pounds since his arrest.Between 2001 and 2009, while he worked as director of the fire academy campus at in the Conshohocken section of Plymouth, he wrote fraudulent checks to Countryside to make payments on his mortgage, a home equity loan and for personal expenses, according to court papers. Linsinbigler had worked for Montgomery County for 32 years before he was arrested for the fraud scheme. At the fire academy, he oversaw training programs for firefighters, police and other first responders.
Two of the accounts he bilked were set up to train county first responders. Since the 1970s, the Chiefs of Police Association has operated the Emergency Vehicle Operators Course, a comprehensive driver training program for county police officers. In the 1990s, the program was expanded to include training for ambulance and fire truck drivers. Course tuition was paid for by county municipalities, and the funds were deposited in EVOC’s bank account, according to the criminal complaint.Linsinbigler also managed finances for the Fire Advisory Board, which is responsible for training and certifying firefighters.In February 2009, Jesse Stemple, the law enforcement liaison at the fire academy, reviewed copies of checks from the Chiefs of Police Association’s account and noticed discrepancies. Several checks had been written to Countrywide, a home mortgage lender.When Stemple asked Linsinbigler about the checks, he admitted using the funds for his personal use, according to prosecutors. An investigation discovered that the former bookkeeper had written a total of 79 checks to the mortgage company since 2001.Linsinbigler admitted to Assistant District Attorney Chris Parisi that he initially lied to county detectives about the extent of the theft. While skimming the accounts, he forged the signatures of Stemple, Upper Dublin Police Chief Terry Thompson, retired fire academy secretary Peggy Stansfield and deceased Whitemarsh Police Chief Richard Zolko.On the stand Wednesday, Linsinbigler testified he was remorseful for betraying the trust of fire and police officials.“I feel totally embarrassed,” he said. “I ruined (my) professional standards by doing what I did.”Parisi said the official used his position of authority to cover his criminal activity.“He used that to hide behind day after day,” he said. “It’s not about the money but the trust.”O’Neill laid out his reasoning for the sentence he would mete out. Forging of police and fire officials’ signatures, the judge said, was “particularly egregious.”“He stole money like a common thief,” O’Neill said.Linsinbigler, who was spared a state sentence, will be eligible for work release. He worked for the from fire academy in 1974 until 2009, except for three of those years. When he was fired he was earning an annual salary of $70,768.

Gastonia, North Carolina couple accused of embezzling from church

Authorities say a couple who worked at a Baptist church in North Carolina used their positions to steal more than $350,000 over a three-year period. Alan and Linda Roland of Gastonia face four charges, including embezzlement and conspiracy.Officials say Alan Roland worked as the treasurer at Way of the Cross Baptist Church in Mount Holly and that his wife was assistant treasurer.Authorities say the Rolands wrote 811 checks to themselves. The Rolands declined comment after a first appearance in court Thursday. They have been released on unsecured bond and have been ordered not to go on the church's property.Pastor Robert Meeks says he's hopeful they will find a way to reimburse the church.Mount Holly's Way of the Cross Baptist Church held its first Sunday service this weekend since the former members accused of embezzling hundreds of thousands of dollars appeared in court."It's about like starting all over. God's given us a new beginning," Way of the Cross pastor, the Rev. Bobby Meeks, said.The church’s former treasurer and secretary, Alan and Linda Roland, appeared in a Gaston County courtroom last week. Over the years, detectives say they embezzled more than $360,000 from the church bank account."We found out we didn't have but $1,700, and it was a shock to all of us," said Meeks.Church leaders had very little to say about the case Sunday except that the focus was on the worship service, one in which Meeks talked about forgiveness.
"I talked to them and just said, ‘just try to love each other and bring unity back in the church,’" he said. Meeks says his congregation is already in the process of replenishing the money that was taken. He says the ladies of the church raised more than $2,000 through several yard sales and they plan to hold other fundraisers to restore the church account.

Hustisford, Wisconsin teacher gets jail sentence for embezzlement

A Hustisford teacher pleaded no contest to a reduced charged of embezzlement between $2,500 and $5,000 on Tuesday.Melissa Klein, 40, 410 Sandy Lane, Hustisford, had been charged with theft to a business setting.Klein was placed on probation for two years with the conditions that she serve 70 days in jail, pay restitution in an amount to yet be determined, pay court costs and that she does not serve as an officer of any group or organization or in any fiduciary capacity without permission from her probation officer.According to the criminal complaint, Klein was the treasurer of the Hustisford Education Association between Nov. 15, 2007 and Sept. 15, 2009. During that time, she took $6,860 that belonged to the association.Hustisford Education Association contacted the Wisconsin Education Association Council to perform an audit on the association's account at Hustisford State Bank. The audit revealed 17 separate fraudulent transactions committed by Klein during her tenure as treasurer of the association.Klein admitted on March 24 to members of WEAC that she committed the fraudulent transactions and resigned from the post.
Police interviewed Klein on April 1 and she admitted to taking the money and creating false documents to hide the transactions.

Hopes Mills, North Carolina woman charged with embezzling from church

A Hope Mills woman was charged Friday with embezzling hundreds of thousands of dollars from MacPherson Presbyterian Church. Darcy Lynn LacLaire, 38, of the 5900 block of Hunting Ridge Road in Hope Mills, was charged with six counts of embezzlement and one count of obtaining property by false pretense, according to court records.LacLaire worked as a secretary in the church office.Arrest warrants allege that LacLaire spent $210,121.88 of the church's money for personal use.She also used several credit cards in the church's name, located at 3525 Cliffdale Road, to make personal purchases totaling $121,035.89, according to court records.LacLaire was being held at the Cumberland County Detention Center on Friday night on a $250,000 secure bond.

Woman charged with embezzlement from church in Rogers City, Michigan

A 55-year-old Rogers City woman was arraigned in 89th District Court Thursday on embezzlement charges.

Kristie Kelley is charged with one count of embezzlement of $100,000 or more, while being an agent, servant or employee of St. Ignatius Church. The charge is a felony punishable by 20 year in prison or a fine of up to $50,000 or three times the amount embezzled, whichever is greater.The Rogers City Police Department began the investigation after receiving a complaint in June. A warrant for arrest was authorized by the Presque Isle County Prosecutor's Office on Wednesday.A press release from Rogers City Police Chief Matt Quaine stated the charge is merely an accusation and Kelley is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.Kelley currently is lodged in the Presque Isle County Jail on a $200,000 bond. Her preliminary exam is scheduled at 11 a.m. on Sept. 14.

L.A. Unified moves to close charter school over alleged misuse of $2.7 million

Los Angeles schools Supt. Ramon C. Cortines has moved to shut down a San Fernando Valley charter school over the alleged theft or misuse of as much as $2.7 million by the school's founding principal. The problems at NEW Academy Canoga Park turned up in an audit released Monday by the inspector general's office of the Los Angeles Unified School District.More than "$2 million of misappropriated and unaccounted public funds is egregious," Cortines wrote in a letter to the board of the school. "Students have been inexcusably deprived of funds that were designated solely to further their education."As a charter school, NEW Academy is governed by its own board of directors, independent of L.A. Unified, which authorized the school. Los Angeles has more charters, public schools that are independently run, than any school district in the nation.Virtually no local charter schools have been forcibly shut down by the district, although several have closed after officials failed to renew an expiring charter agreement, which typically lasts three to five years.The elementary school of about 500 students faces a charter revocation hearing. The chairwoman of the school's board contends that NEW Academy should survive because students are thriving.Although the school's scores are still in the lowest 30% of schools statewide, according to last year's data, its students' gains on standardized tests have been among the region's strongest each of the last three years."It is clear that our school has been a victim of fraud," board chair Maggie Cervantes said in a statement. "The school is taking aggressive and necessary steps to recover its assets and work to successfully resolve this issue. These steps have included terminating the employment of the former principal of the school."The former principal, Edward Fiszer, could not be reached for comment. Although not identified by name in the published audit, Fiszer was the target of the inquiry, officials confirmed.NEW Academy Canoga Park opened in 2005 as an unusual example of public-private collaboration using school bonds and other funding sources to combine a new school with low-income housing.The school's visible face, Fiszer, the author of three education and motivational books, was once honored as a "Champion of Children" in a City Hall ceremony.Among the auditors' findings is that Fiszer allegedly withdrew cashier's checks totaling nearly $1.1 million from school accounts between July 1, 2007, and Sept. 30, 2009."The former principal claimed that funds deposited into his personal Ameritrade account were not withdrawn, but were deposited and repeatedly lost," the auditors wrote, apparently as a result of unsuccessful investments.One cost questioned by auditors was $62,247 paid to a company called Burgundy Bunny for science enrichment for fourth- and fifth-graders over a six-week period. "We performed an Internet search to verify the validity of the vendor," auditors wrote. "We noted that the address and phone number were invalid. The address shows as a vacant lot. In addition, the business entity name does not exist."Auditors also allege that the principal paid a former teacher — who at some point married the principal — $129,450 for services as a grant writer, although a company was already being paid for grant writing.The audit included a harsh assessment of the oversight by the charter's governing board and the outside company that provided accounting services.Handling the audit became complicated because the school system's interim inspector general is a member of the board of directors of the charter's founding organization. Jess Womack is board secretary of New Economics for Women, whose acronym, NEW, is part of the school's name. Womack, a retired L.A. Unified attorney, recently rejoined the school system as inspector general. Womack recused himself from dealing with this audit, district officials confirmed. The charter has a board of directors separate from New Economics, but there's overlap: Cervantes is executive director of New Economics and Loyola Marymount University Assistant Dean Marta Sanchez serves on both boards. A second NEW Academy operates near downtown. The Los Angeles County district attorney's office said it hasn't yet received the audit for review for potential prosecution.The school becomes the second San Fernando Valley charter school facing allegations of impropriety. The founders of Ivy Academia face felony charges related to co-mingling private and public accounts. They have denied wrongdoing.

Former PTO officer in West Virginia now faces charges

The former vice president of a school's parent-teacher organization is charged with credit card fraud, identity theft and embezzling money from the PTO. According to a complaint filed in Kanawha County Magistrate Court on Monday, Sarah Elizabeth Harless, 33, of Elkview, allegedly took more than $13,000 from the Pinch Elementary PTO's accounts.Harless was arrested and released Aug. 16 on $1,000 bond. She was charged with one count of embezzlement, four counts of credit card fraud and two counts of identity theft.
Though Harless was elected vice president of the organization, she took over as treasurer around Nov. 1 after elected treasurer Polly Stuart could not maintain her duties due to "personal reasons," the complaint said."I think she just had a lot of things on her plate," Pinch Elementary Principal Elizabeth Moore said of Stuart.According to the complaint, Harless then served as treasurer until mid-April, when members discovered she had embezzled money from its Chase Bank and United Bank accounts. Harless also used the PTO's CitiBusiness account to make "fraudulent purchases for her personal benefit." Harless used her issued card and then-PTO president Kristi Rhule's card to make more than $8,000 in purchases, according to the complaint.The complaint states the vice president also opened a fraudulent business account with Capital One on behalf of Stuart and the Pinch PTO without anyone's permission. She used this credit card to make more than $900 in fraudulent personal purchases, the complaint said.Harless admitted in May to using money from the United Bank, Chase Bank and CitiBusiness accounts to make personal purchases, including paying her utility.She said she used the CitiBusiness card in January, the complaint said, and used funds from the United Bank account to make payments on the CitiBusiness card.Harless also admitted she failed to pay several vendors that had provided services to the Pinch PTO and verified she opened the Capital One account and used it for personal purchases, the complaint said.Moore said she couldn't comment on the embezzlement charges because the Kanawha Sheriff's Department is still investigating. "We've been working with the law enforcement with this and will continue to work with them," she said.Kristi Rhule, who served as PTO president at the time of the alleged embezzlement, said she hopes the case against Harless doesn't affect the high level of community involvement Pinch Elementary has, or deter parents from supporting the organization in the future.Harless has not worked with the PTO since approximately April 15, she said."As a nonprofit organization, every penny counts, so when embezzlement occurs it makes for a tough time," she said.