Virginia Woman Charged With Embezzling Funds From AIDS Charity

United States Attorney John L. Brownlee for the Western District of Virginia announced recently that Nancy Stewart was charged with allegedly defrauding AIDS Response Effort, Inc. ("ARE"), a non-profit service organization in Winchester, Virginia.

ARE established a program to identify individuals who are at high risk of being infected with HIV/AIDS and individuals who are infected but are unaware of it. The individuals are asked to provide a saliva sample in order to determine whether they are infected. Individuals are also asked to provide information to ARE on a Risk Assessment Questionnaire, which is signed by the individual, certifying the truth of the information on the form.

ARE employees are encouraged to find high risk individuals and are given the opportunity to earn a bonus for each questionnaire completed and each saliva sample obtained. The Grand Jury alleged that between June 1, 2003 and December 31, 2003, Stewart submitted 91 Risk Assessment Questionnaires for fictitious individuals. According to the indictment, Stewart would complete the questionnaire herself and then provided a swab of her own saliva for testing. She received a bonus for each questionnaire and saliva sample submitted.

See full release here.