Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, July 1, 1993 TAG: 9307010395
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LAURENCE HAMMACK STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
After telling a judge she could not explain where much of the money went, Underwood went to jail to begin serving a six-month sentence.
In May, Underwood pleaded guilty to embezzlement. As the former secretary and bookkeeper at the Harrison Museum of African American Culture, it took Underwood five months to empty the account for the museum's annual Henry Street festival.
She did it by forging 37 paychecks to herself, she told state police. In her confession, Underwood said she felt entitled to the money because her $6.90 hourly pay did not take into account all her long hours and dedication.
Testifying Wednesday at her sentencing in Roanoke Circuit Court, Underwood changed her story.
"I wasn't entitled to it," she said. "I was in need of it." As a 31-year-old mother raising a son alone, Underwood said she became overwhelmed by medical bills, payments on a student loan and day-to-day expenses.
"I was constantly behind, behind, behind," she testified. "Every day when I went to work I was wondering when I went home if [the electricity] would be cut off."
Underwood justified the theft by planning to pay the money back, figuring she deserved an unauthorized loan if not an outright raise.
"I had given the organization a lot of hard and dedicated hours above and beyond what was asked," she said.
Under questioning from Chief Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Betty Jo Anthony, Underwood was unable to say where much of the money went.
"I can't give you a dollar-for-dollar account of the money," she said. "But I can say that it was not used for any greedy reasons or for anything that was not a necessity."
After forging the first check in September, Underwood said, she expected to be confronted any day by her employer.
But supervision of museum finances was so lax that the scheme was not discovered until legitimate checks began to bounce after Underwood had cleaned out the account.
Museum officials have declined to elaborate on the case, except to acknowledge that problems existed that have since been solved.
Although most of the museum's losses have been covered by insurance, Underwood still is expected to make restitution.
Defense Attorney Ray Byrd had asked that she receive a suspended sentence.
But Judge Jack Coulter followed Anthony's suggestion of six months in jail, a recommendation he called "extremely generous" considering Underwood had faced a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.
by CNB