THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, November 4, 1995 TAG: 9511040322
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B5 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: ALEXANDRIA LENGTH: Short : 39 lines
Deposed United Way president William Aramony has begun serving his seven-year sentence on federal fraud, tax and conspiracy charges, his lawyer said Friday.
Aramony reported last month to the minimum-security prison at Rochester, Minn., lawyer William Moffitt said. Aramony was convicted in April along with two former top associates.
All three were sentenced in June, but remained free on bond while awaiting a bed in an appropriate federal prison.
All three have appealed to the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, but there is no court action scheduled.
At Aramony's sentencing, U.S. District Judge Claude M. Hilton rejected pleas for leniency on grounds that Aramony is elderly, in failing health and performed good works during 22 years as the charity's chief.
The 68-year-old former executive was convicted of looting United Way accounts to romance young women and enrich himself. His four-year relationship with a girl who was 17 when she met the then-married Aramony was at the heart of prosecutors' case.
Thomas J. Merlo, 64, and Stephen J. Paulachak, 49, were found guilty of helping Aramony conceal his activities while enriching themselves.
Merlo, former United Way chief financial officer, began serving his sentence of four years and seven months in prison in September, said his lawyer, Richard D. Heideman.
Paulachak, who headed a United Way spinoff company, has begun serving a 2 1/2-year term. by CNB