I'll try this again in plain text. Steve Courtney 7 Union St. Terryville, CT 06786 860-589-6412 From: [log in to unmask] To: [log in to unmask] Subject: RE: Embezzlement at Mark Twain House. (LA Times) Date: Wed, 10 Aug 2011 09:53:03 -0400 Thanks, Arianne! Yes, this is a dismal event, but I'm pretty happy about our institutional response. We reported it to the authorities and police when this came to light a year ago, and were as open as we could be while the investigation was proceeding. It's an ugly, ugly thing, but justice is being served. Here's a pretty thorough story from Saturday from the Hartford Courant, and the editorial they ran today. -- Steve http://www.courant.com/community/hartford/hc-hartford-twain-plea-0806-20110805,0,3817031.story http://www.courant.com/news/opinion/editorials/hc-ed-twain-house-bleeding-20110810,0,7289427.story Steve Courtney 7 Union St. Terryville, CT 06786 860-589-6412 > Date: Wed, 10 Aug 2011 00:54:31 -0700 > From: [log in to unmask] > Subject: Embezzlement at Mark Twain House. (LA Times) > To: [log in to unmask] > > Thought you'd all want to know if you hadn't seen this yet. Also some of > the links below were interesting, and I hadn't seen the articles before. > Arianne Laidlaw > > > Mark Twain House employee embezzled $1 million > August 9, 2011 | 8:30 am > > [image: increase text > size]<http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/jacketcopy/2011/08/mark-twain-house-employee-embezzled-1-million.html?track=icymi#>[image: > decrease text size]<http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/jacketcopy/2011/08/mark-twain-house-employee-embezzled-1-million.html?track=icymi#> > **** > <http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/jacketcopy/2011/08/mark-twain-house-employee-embezzled-1-million.html#comments> > **6** > <http://twitter.com/share?url=http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/jacketcopy/2011/08/mark-twain-house-employee-embezzled-1-million.html&text=Mark%20Twain%20House%20employee%20embezzled%20%241%20million&via=latimesbooks> > 38 > > > [image: Marktwainhouse_ct]<http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/.a/6a00d8341c630a53ef014e8a804d0f970d-pi> > > An employee of the Mark Twain House and Museum in Hartford, Conn., has > admitted in court to embezzling $1 million from the organization that > maintains the author's historic home. The Mark Twain House, like the homes > of some of America's other best-known writers, has faced financial > difficulties. Most, however, were not systematically plundered. > > Longtime (and now former) staffer Donna Gregory regularly raided the > organization's coffers for eight years; she pleaded > guilty<http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/08/05/us-crime-marktwain-idUSTRE77476H20110805> > to > charges of wire fraud and filing a false tax return, Reuters reports. > > According to court documents, Gregor submitted false information over the > Internet to the Mark Twain House payroll vendor between 2002 and 2010. The > misinformation allowed additional pay to which she was not entitled to be > deposited into her bank account, classified as payroll advances. > > She then adjusted the ledgers to cover up the advances by reclassifying the > amounts as utilities, maintenance and similar items. She also falsified the > Mark Twain House's bank statements to hide the advances, authorities said. > > Gregor used the Mark Twain House's check-writing system to write checks > payable to herself and forged her supervisor's signatures on those checks, > authorities said. > > A board member of the home said the fraud was discovered when a bank staffer > questioned some signatures. Gregory faces a maximum of 23 years in prison, a > $2-million fine and will be ordered to pay back the Mark Twain House and its > insurance company. > > *RELATED:* > > Mark Twain stamp hits post offices June > 25<http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/jacketcopy/2011/06/mark-twain-stamp.html> > > Inside the next volume of Twain's > autobiography<http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/jacketcopy/2011/03/next-volume-mark-twain-autobiography.html> > > Could a movie save Edgar Allan Poe's Baltimore > house?<http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/jacketcopy/2011/08/could-the-poe-movie-save-edgar-allan-poe-house-baltimore.html> > > [*For the Record, 6:16 p.m., Aug. 9: *An earlier version of this post said > the Twain House is in West Hartford, Conn.] > > -- Carolyn Kellogg > > *Photo: The Mark Twain House in Hartford, Conn. Credit: Jim Bourg / Reuters*