MEDFORD, Mass. — This all started when the Medford Paraprofessional Union was informed they lost their tax status due to unpaid taxes. So, they got an auditor to look over everything. According to police, the auditor found that a significant amount of money was spent without any documentation to back it up.
According to a police report, the Paraprofessionals Union accuses their president of writing checks totaling $50,000 to herself and to other members of the board.
“We’re very concerned and confused,” said instructional tutor Rosemary Saeed. “The leadership has not stepped forward to mention what has happened with these funds and there seems to be no receipts.”
Paraprofessionals and tutors are trying to make sense of the missing money.
Gina Coppola, the president of the union spoke with Boston 25 News on the phone. She is currently out of state and did not want to go on camera, but she did answer questions.
She said the money is all accounted for she just has to find the receipts, the former treasurer passed away and was in charge of keeping those records. Some things are hard to find. Any checks she made out to herself she says, were just reimbursements for travel for union business.
Coppola has not been charged with anything. But that does not mean the union isn’t still wondering where their money is.
“You know it’s you know it’s not only me that wants answers. It’s all of us,” says Heidi Alarcon, a paraprofessional. “We work hard and we pay our dues and we want to know what happened.”
The police report was filed last week and it’s still under investigation. There have been no charges at this time.
Download the FREE Boston 25 News app for breaking news alerts.
Follow Boston 25 News on Facebook and Twitter. | Watch Boston 25 News NOW
©2024 Cox Media Group
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/cmg/7QOJU3BNCJERBNKJC5LWTBYFLU.png)
