A 55-year-old Raynham woman who stole more than $60,000 from a local public employees union was sentenced this week in Fall River Superior Court to three years of probation and was ordered to pay full restitution, Bristol County District Attorney Thomas M. Quinn III announced.
Pamela J. Almeida, who was a clerk for the Easton Planning Board and the Treasurer for the Southeastern Public Employees Association (SPEA), which is a union representing various public employees employed in the towns of Easton, Mansfield, West Bridgewater, and Milton, pleaded guilty Tuesday to a single indictment charging her with larceny over $250.
In October of 2016, union representatives became suspicious that Almeida was stealing funds from the union’s Easton bank account, and contacted police. A review of more than five years of bank records revealed that Almeida regularly drafted checks payable to herself from union funds for no legitimate reason. Almeida wrote 80 checks to herself for a total theft that exceeded $60,000.00.
The union dues from the account Almeida stole from were used to pay for labor counsel during contract negotiations and to fund higher education scholarships for deserving youth in the community. Members of her union first suspected Almeida of malfeasance when a student notified the union that they had not received their scholarship check when expected.
Union members immediately contacted Easton Police and an investigation began. The joint investigation by Easton Police Detective Darren Mangott and Massachusetts State Police Detective Melvin Rodriguez, who is assigned to the district attorney’s office, was led by Assistant District Attorney Michael Scott, who heads up DA Quinn’s Financial Crimes Unit.
During a plea hearing before Judge Raffi Yessayan on Tuesday, Assistant District Attorney Scott argued that some period of incarceration was warranted given the extreme breach of trust and the fact that Almeida stole from more than 200 union members. ADA Scott recommended a sentence of two years in the House of Corrections, with one year to serve, two years of probation and full restitution to the victims.
The defendant, however, requested a two year probationary term and agreed to pay full restitution.
Judge Yessayan eventually sentenced the defendant to a three year probationary term and ordered her to pay $63,729 in restitution to the union. $50,000 of the restitution is to be paid this week and the remaining $13,729 over the term of her probation.
“This was a significant breach of trust by the defendant who stole money that union members had set aside for a scholarship fund and to get legal representation during contract negotiations,” District Attorney Quinn said. “Based on this significant theft of funds, we felt that the defendant should have been sentenced to jail. I hope the defendant has the same enthusiasm for paying back the money that she did for stealing it.”
