United States Attorney Roger B. Handberg announces the unsealing of an indictment charging Teresa Brady (69, Jacksonville) and Ruby George (81, Jacksonville) with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and mail fraud, eight counts of aiding and abetting wire fraud, and three counts of aiding and abetting mail fraud.
Brady is also charged with two counts of money laundering. If convicted of conspiracy, wire fraud, and mail fraud counts, Brady and George each face a maximum penalty of 20 years’ imprisonment on each count.
Brady also faces a maximum penalty of 10 years on each money laundering count. The indictment notifies Brady and George that the United States intends to forfeit at least $2,600,235.99, which are alleged to be proceeds obtained from the fraud.
According to the indictment, Brady and George were the President and Executive Vice President of Duval Teachers United (DTU), a labour union that represents Duval County Public Schools (DCPS) teachers, paraprofessionals, and office personnel. DTU has approximately 6,500 members and represents approximately 80 per cent of eligible DCPS employees. DTU’s annual revenue is approximately $5 million, which is comprised of funds paid by dues-paying members.
The indictment alleges that between 2013 and 2022, Brady and George engaged in a conspiracy to steal more than $1.2 million each from the DTU by selling back leave time that they had not accrued or earned back to DTU.
Brady and George allegedly hid this activity by providing false information to DTU’s auditors (Certified Public Accountants) and by signing each other’s checks when distributing the unaccrued and unearned leave money, hiding those payments from the DTU Secretary/Treasurer.
The indictment further alleges that Brady and George withheld this unearned compensation from the Florida Public Employee Relations Commission (PERC), responsible for public labour unions in Florida, in required annual financial statement filings, some of which were mailed to PERC.
Brady also allegedly used the proceeds of fraud and engaged in two monetary transactions of more than $10,000 to pay personal credit card debt.
An indictment is merely a formal charge that a defendant has committed one or more violations of federal criminal law, and every defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
