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69 °F Forecast | Road Cams Friday, May 13, 2005 Today's News | Shop Our Valley | Tempo | Health | Community | Home Delivery | Contact Us SECTIONS Home Page Local News Sports Business Obituaries Life Opinion Tempo AP News Weather Classified Archives Site Map SPECIAL SECTIONS Since We Asked Outdoor Journal Menu Guide How To Guide Health Readers' Choice Real Estate Showcase Real Estate Guide Joy Magazine Homelife Magazine Wedding Guide Passport to the Rogue Valley SHOP OUR VALLEY AutoFinder HomeFinder JobFinder Classified Place an ad TOP JOBS EXTRA Ashland News NIE Personals Movie Times TV Times E The People Volunteer Moving here? eSouthernOregon CUSTOMER SERVICE FAQ's Advertise with us Home Delivery Employment Contact Us Media Kit Oregon Road Conditions & Cams Email Story to a Friend May 11, 2005 Community activist guilty of embezzlement White City Community Improvement Assn.co-founder took $30,600 in association funds By ANITA BURKE Mail Tribune Admitting her own "greed and stupidity," a former White City community activist and bingo parlor manager must repay nearly $30,600 she stole from the White City Community Improvement Association and she can never handle money for a charity again. Judith Ann Burns, 65, who helped found the community association and headed its bingo operations until last year, pleaded guilty to four first-degree theft charges Tuesday in Jackson County Circuit Court. In addition to repaying the association, she was sentenced to 20 days in jail and 18 months’ probation. She also signed an agreement with the state Department of Justice that forever bars her from involvement in the financial operations of any nonprofit organization. Burns admitted to keeping commission checks in 2002 and 2003 from a business that had coin-operated, crane-style toy machines at the improvement association’s Cascade Bingo, where Burns was manager. The money, $500 to $800 a month, should have gone to the association, which didn’t know about the deal Burns had struck with the owner of the game machines, investigators said. Prosecutor Rachel Bridges said investigators found that Burns had received commission checks totaling more than $42,000 since Cascade Bingo opened in 1997, but she was only charged in the most recent and easily proven thefts. Advertisement Burns’ attorney Carl Caplan acknowledged that Burns had taken the commission checks from the beginning, but said the act was not evil or malicious. "She feels regret and shame that she won’t forget," he said. "She will carry it for the rest of her life." Burns, who offered her pleas in a near whisper and appeared to have trouble hearing Judge Raymond White, didn’t address the court. Caplan read a letter she had written. "I destroyed my reputation in a community I worked so hard to improve," he read. "No sentence is worse that what I imposed with my own greed and stupidity." Caplan said Burns was ready to take responsibility and get on with her life. Ron Wilson, president of the White City Community Improvement Association board, said the organization, too, was glad to see the end of the case. He said Burns resigned from all posts she held with the organization in April 2004. At that time, Wilson, who is also a founding member of the association, called the Department of Justice to make sure all state gaming regulations had been followed. That investigation uncovered the thefts and prompted a statewide look at vending machines in bingo halls, although no other problems were found, said Kirk Harvey, chief investigator at the Justice Department’s charitable activities section. "Everyone was just shocked that she did it," Wilson said. The restitution won’t affect the association’s business of serving the community, he said. In exchange for her guilty pleas, prosecutors dropped additional charges of racketeering, theft and two counts of falsifying records. Reach reporter Anita Burke at 776-4485, or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Local News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Life | Opinion AP News | Archives | Site Map | Community | Classified Copyright © 1997-2005 Mail Tribune, Inc. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy | Terms & Conditions | Website Feedback Free Music Downloads Conference Calls - $50/Month Home Security Systems Trunks, Footlocker, Trunk, Footlockers home equity loans helzberg diamonds Distance Education Diamonds Paris Hilton Online Poker Auto Insurance Mesothelioma Slippers Student Loans Tatoo tcg student loan consolidation teleconferencing Website Design & Marketing Memory Foam Mattress w2 forms Tatoos Mortgage Calculator Free Home-Loan Referrals Payday Loans Advertisement s