THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, June 23, 1995 TAG: 9506230525
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A2 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: ALEXANDRIA LENGTH: Short : 50 lines
Former United Way chief William Aramony drew seven years in prison Thursday for embezzling at least $600,000 to pay for illicit romantic getaways with women less than half his age.
An ashen, grim-faced Aramony made no statement before U.S. District Judge Claude M. Hilton imposed the sentence and three years' probation. The defendant was also ordered to repay the nation's largest charity $552,000.
Aramony, 68, must report to a minimum-security federal prison as soon as space is available, probably in four to six weeks. He could be out in about six years.
Aramony was convicted in April of fraud, tax and conspiracy charges. Two top associates, Thomas J. Merlo, 64, and Stephen J. Paulachak, 49, were found guilty of helping him loot the charity and conceal his romances in exchange for first-class travel and other perks.
Merlo, former chief financial officer, was sentenced to four years and seven months in prison and ordered to repay $552,000. Paulachak, who led a United Way spinoff company, got 2 1/2 years. They had no comment after sentencing.
All three plan to appeal.
Aramony's four-year relationship with Lori Villasor - who was 17 when she met Aramony, a married man at the time - was at the heart of the prosecutors' case. They said Aramony looted United Way accounts to romance young women and enrich himself.
Villasor sat in a front row and dabbed her eyes while Aramony's lawyer pleaded for leniency because of his client's poor health, advanced age and good works.
``He has fed the hungry, clothed the naked and given homes to the homeless on a scale unprecedented,'' defense attorney William B. Moffitt Jr. said.
The judge rejected Moffitt's arguments that a degenerative brain illness lowered Aramony's inhibitions and coarsened his sexual drive.
Aramony headed the United Way from 1970 to 1992, when he was forced to resign after his spending excesses became public. ILLUSTRATION: Photo
William Aramony
KEYWORDS: EMBEZZLEMENT UNITED WAY by CNB