Ava Shaw

Former Southern California Local President Sentenced for Theft

Submitted by Carl Horowitz on Mon, 06/16/2008 - 00:00

Officials of the San Gabriel Teachers Association are relieved.  In a different way, so is Ava Shaw.  Shaw, 52, a resident of Pasadena, California, had taught special education at Jefferson Middle School in nearby San Gabriel for several years.  She also headed the SGTA for four years.  After she left to take a job at a private school, her past caught up with her.  She was arrested and eventually pleaded no contest this past February to thefts from her union totaling around $85,000.  On May 28, Shaw was sentenced in Alhambra (Los Angeles County) Superior Court to three years probation, and ordered to complete 120 days of community service and repay $64,000 in stolen union funds.  A second teacher, Jennifer Boyd (now Boyd-Oliver), also had been charged in the case; she pleaded no contest to theft of a much smaller amount.  Like Shaw, she was placed on three years probation, and will have to perform 45 days of community service.

Southern California Teachers Plead No Contest to Thefts

Submitted by Carl Horowitz on Mon, 03/10/2008 - 00:00

Ava Shaw and Jennifer Boyd were the best of friends.  Fellow teachers and teachers’ union members in San Gabriel, Calif., they dined, shopped and vacationed together.  Unfortunately, those good times often came at the expense of their union – and without the union’s consent.  Their luck ended nearly two years ago with their arrest for embezzlement of around $85,000 in union funds.  On February 15, the pair pleaded no contest to theft in Los Angeles County Court.  Shaw awaits sentencing at a restitution hearing, while Boyd was placed on three years probation and ordered to perform 45 days of community service with the California Department of Transportation.

Ex-Leaders of California Local Plead Not Guilty to Embezzlement

Submitted by Carl Horowitz on Mon, 07/17/2006 - 00:00

Given the evidence, Ava Shaw and Jennifer Boyd face an uphill climb in beating an embezzlement rap.  But the former leaders of the San Gabriel Teachers Association (SGTA) think otherwise.  On July 6, the pair pleaded not guilty at the Alhambra Courthouse to charges that they took a combined more than $85,000 from the union.  Shaw, 50, a resident of Pasadena, taught special students at a public middle school starting in 1997.  At the time of her arrest in March, she was employed at a private Los Angeles school.  Investigators believe that Shaw siphoned around $83,000 during her four-year tenure as SGTA president, using union checks and credit cards to pay for personal expenses.  Nearly $2,500 of those checks, say prosecutors, were pocketed by Boyd, 34, a public school special-needs teacher arrested in April.  Each of the accused posted bail shortly after their arrests.  (Pasadena Star-News, 7/7/06).

Southern California Ex-Secretary Sentenced for Embezzlement

Submitted by Carl Horowitz on Mon, 04/24/2006 - 00:00

Leslie Patricia Bell found out the price of stealing from a union treasury:  18 months in federal prison, three years probation, and $156,423 in restitution.  Bell, 39, had pleaded guilty last May to charges she embezzled funds from Local 1184 of the Laborers International Union of North America, which represents construction, groundskeeping and maintenance workers in Riverside and San Bernardino Counties.  Bell had been responsible for paying union bills and depositing membership dues at the union’s local office in Riverside.  Her thefts began in May 2001 and lasted until her firing in July 2003.  Most of Bell’s haul took the form of membership dues paid in cash.  She also admitted forging the name of her then-husband, the union president, on two checks totaling $22,028.  She used the money to pay off credit card debt and federal taxes, according to her plea bargain.

Syndicate content