THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, March 29, 1996 TAG: 9603290466
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY PERRY PARKS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: ELIZABETH CITY LENGTH: Short : 50 lines
James Graham Foreman Jr., who pleaded guilty last month to embezzling $102,000 from the Albemarle Area United Way, was behind bars Thursday.
Foreman, sentenced under a plea agreement in Pasquotank County Superior Court to a seven-year active term, was to spend the night in Albemarle District Jail and be transferred soon to a state prison, said Assistant District Attorney Mike Johnson.
He was also ordered by Resident Superior Court Judge Jerry Tillett to repay the $102,000.
Under the sentencing law that applies to his case, Foreman will be eligible for parole after serving one-eighth of his sentence, or about 10 1/2 months.
Foreman pleaded guilty on Feb. 8 to 12 counts of embezzling United Way funds for his personal use through a bank account that was not authorized by board members.
Eleven other embezzlement charges and 23 counts of malfeasance by a corporate agent were dropped under the plea agreement.
Foreman, who had been paid $14,500 annually as the United Way's part-time executive director, was suspended in early February 1995 after directors discovered a doctored version of the organization's annual audit report.
Foreman resigned a few days later and was indicted in May on charges that he had embezzled charity funds from March 1993 through early 1995.
United Way officials hope restitution will come from the sale of an Elizabeth City home that Foreman inherited a share of last year. Foreman's attorney, H.P. Williams Jr., had told a judge last month that restitution might be paid before the sentencing.
But a planned sale of the home has since fallen through, said Doug Gardner, one of the United Way board members who first discovered Foreman's activities and who helped shepherd the organization through a year of turmoil.
Although the United Way has not yet recouped its losses, Foreman's sentencing will help the agency move forward, Gardner said.
``There's a sense of closure at this point,'' he said. ILLUSTRATION: JAMES GRAHAM FOREMAN JR.
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KEYWORDS: EMBEZZLE UNITED WAY SENTENCING by CNB