DATE: Friday, September 26, 1997            TAG: 9709260789

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY BILL SIZEMORE, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: CHESAPEAKE                        LENGTH:  135 lines

WOMAN EMBEZZLED FROM COALITION

The Christian Coalition's former top finance official has admitted embezzling $40,000 from the conservative religious lobby, saying she did it to pacify an abusive husband who was threatening to bring her and the coalition down.

Jeanne K. DelliCarpini, 42, of Virginia Beach pleaded guilty Thursday in Chesapeake Circuit Court to embezzlement, a charge that could bring up to a 20-year prison term and a $100,000 fine. She is to be sentenced Nov. 3.

She admitted writing eight Christian Coalition checks to pay off her and her husband's personal credit cards and signing another coalition employee's name on them in addition to her own. The coalition requires two signatures on its checks.

In a taped interview with the coalition's chief operating officer and attorney in April, DelliCarpini said she was acting under pressure from her husband, who she said was threatening to provide damaging information to government agencies that were investigating the coalition.

DelliCarpini and her husband are in the midst of a contested divorce. Each has accused the other of cruelty, and they are fighting over custody of their 7-year-old son.

The husband, Anthony J. DelliCarpini, declined to be interviewed. But through an attorney, John W. Tripp, he branded his wife's charges ``ludicrous.''

DelliCarpini assumed responsibility for the coalition's finances in mid-1996 during a tumultuous period at the Chesapeake-based organization, which had a $27 million budget in 1996.

The group's longtime chief financial officer, Judy Liebert, who was DelliCarpini's boss, had been suspended after going to federal prosecutors with her suspicions of overbilling by a direct-mail vendor with close ties to executive director Ralph Reed. Liebert was later fired.

Meanwhile, the coalition was hit with a lawsuit by the Federal Election Commission alleging that it had made illegal contributions to Republican politicians. It was also under scrutiny by the Internal Revenue Service, which hasn't ruled on the group's tax-exempt status.

``I'd go home and talk to my husband about the strange things going on at the office,'' DelliCarpini said in the taped interview.

As the marriage deteriorated, she said, ``all of these threats from him started in. . . . He started in with the FEC stuff, the IRS stuff, and then flat out told me that he had talked to the FEC, he'd been to lunch with Judy and he was basically going to destroy me.''

Liebert, asked about those allegations Thursday, said she had never spoken with DelliCarpini's husband other than casual chat when he would visit the coalition office.

In the taped interview, DelliCarpini said her husband was unemployed at the time and expected her to pay the bills, so she began writing Christian Coalition checks to cover them.

``Then whatever he wanted, then I just did it again,'' she said. ``He doesn't know - all he knows is that the bills are paid.''

``He thought I had gotten a loan from my parents,'' she said.

For the required second signature, she said, she signed the name of Don Cervell, her predecessor as controller, who still works for the coalition as a part-time consultant.

Arne Owens, a spokesman for the coalition, said Cervell was not authorized to sign checks during the period that DelliCarpini worked as controller. DelliCarpini's employment was terminated when the irregularities came to light, Owens said.

DelliCarpini wrote the eight bogus checks between September 1996 and March 1997, according to Deputy Commonwealth's Attorney Nancy Parr, the prosecutor in the case.

DelliCarpini made no statement in court other than to murmur a quiet ``yes, sir'' or ``no, sir'' when Judge Bernard Goodwyn questioned her about her plea.

Her attorney, John W. Brown, said she has arranged a loan that will allow her to make restitution to the coalition. ILLUSTRATION: Graphic

INTERVIEW EXCERPTS

On April 28, as they investigated financial irregularities that

resulted in an embezzlement charge against controller Jeanne K.

DelliCarpini, Christian Coalition chief operating officer Kenneth

Hill and attorney David Ventker conducted a taped interview with

DelliCarpini. During the interview she refers to a tumultuous period

at the coalition in 1996 when Judy Liebert, the group's chief

financial officer, went to federal prosecutors with her suspicions

of overbilling by Ben Hart, a direct-mail vendor with close ties to

Ralph Reed, then the coalition's executive director. Liebert was

suspended and later fired. During this same period, the coalition

was undergoing scrutiny by the Federal Election Commission and the

Internal Revenue Service. The ``Tony'' referred to by DelliCarpini

is her estranged husband, Anthony J. DelliCarpini.

Below are excerpts from the interview, which shows only Jeanne

DelliCarpini's side of the story.

Hill: . . . What I would like just to hear from you is what

happened, when it happened, and how it happened. And of course I

know you want to tell us why it happened. . . .

DelliCarpini: . . . Before Judy was gone, I started working on

the FEC. . . . Back about February or so, she started having a lot

of telephone calls, closed door conferences, things like that. She

would ask me to print things out, invoices, look for things, and I

would take them to her. It was not ordinary business. . . . As it

went on, you know, I'd go home and talk to my husband about the

strange things going on at the office. . . . Little did I know, he

retained, twisted, whatever, every little bit and piece that I had

accumulated. . . . Things were pretty quiet until my marriage mess

started falling apart, and then all of a sudden, all of these

threats from him started in. He was abusive for a very long time and

I was scared to death of the man when he started in with the FEC

stuff, the IRS stuff, and then flat out told me that he had talked

to the FEC, he'd been to lunch with Judy and he was basically going

to destroy me. He didn't care if it was my job. He was going after

the coalition, he was going after Ralph.

Ventker: What is it that you've done to pacify your husband?

DelliCarpini: . . . I wrote three checks to a company, a credit

card company. . . . Then whatever he wanted, then I just did it

again. He doesn't know - all he knows is that the bills are paid. .

. .

Hill: . . . You told me that it was a mistake - that, you know,

with all the pressure you had from Ralph leaving and your personal

situation, you weren't thinking clearly. . . .

DelliCarpini: I've gotten two threatening telephone calls at work

. . . in reference to the FEC and testifying. . . . I was so

wrapped up in trying to keep it together. I mean, Judy was gone. Ben

Hart was gone. We didn't have a boss. Trying to keep the direct mail

going. Trying to keep a lid on everything. . . . The FEC, the IRS,

state of Virginia. . . . I think I subconsciously wanted to get

caught. . . . I have done - done anything I can to protect Ralph,

protect the coalition. . . . I think my conscience was eating me

alive. I couldn't stand it. . . .

Ventker: Did Tony know about this?

DelliCarpini: No, he just wanted this stuff paid. . . .

Hill: What were you thinking back in October of last year? Did

you think that you were going to slide this by?

DelliCarpini: No.

Hill: You thought you were going to get caught from the very

first one?

DelliCarpini: Yes. I don't - I'm OK. I mean, you can, you know,

whatever punishment I get, it's OK. . . .

Hill: I'm not talking punishment or anything right now.

DelliCarpini: I need to be punished.

Send Suggestions or Comments to webmaster@scholar.lib.vt.edu