DATE: Tuesday, November 4, 1997             TAG: 9711040289

SECTION: FRONT                   PAGE: A11  EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY MATTHEW DOLAN, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH                    LENGTH:   44 lines

FORMER BINGO VOLUNTEER INDICTED AT BEACH SEVERAL EMBEZZLEMENT COUNTS HAVE BEEN LODGED AGAINST WOMAN.

For the fifth time this year, a South Hampton Roads grand jury has issued an embezzlement indictment against a former volunteer for a charitable gambling organization.

The volunteer, Augusta Marie Young, 54, of Virginia Beach sold bingo playing sheets for several years until March for the twice-a-week game operated by the Virginia Beach chapter of Fraternal Order of Police at Independence Hall and Pembroke Hall.

Young was charged Monday with two felony counts of embezzlement, one misdemeanor count of embezzlement and one misdemeanor count of attempted embezzlement, state and city officials confirmed. The indictments allege that she skimmed more than $1,000 from the coffers of the Virginia Beach FOP.

Al Byrum, president of the FOP chapter, said Young's alleged embezzlement was a ``slap in the face'' to an organization that raises and donates money for the Easter Seals, Boy Scouts and other worthwhile causes. In the fiscal year ending Sept. 30, 1996, the FOP raised more than $1.7 million from bingo sales and, after expenses and prizes, donated $156,724.38 from those sales to charities.

State officials said FOP officials first suspected something was wrong when Young's receipts started to fall short in January.

``It came to our attention about some shortages,'' said Elbert Jackson, bingo chairman for the FOP chapter. ``We contacted the State Gaming Commission about our concerns.''

A woman who answered Young's phone Monday night said she was out of town.

Byrum said Young was a member of the organization's associate lodge, which includes about 125 members, who support the police department and the FOP's charitable endeavors.

The Virginia Beach case is not the first test of the state's increased police power to root out bingo corruption across the state.

In late September, bingo manager George West was convicted on two of 10 charges that he took part in a scheme to divert hundreds of thousands of dollars from Deep Creek Baseball Association bingo games.

Three others involved in the Deep Creek scheme also pleaded guilty to related charges. KEYWORDS: BINGO FRAUD EMBEZZLEMENT INDICTMENT

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