Ex-principal gets 5 months

mv- Local Wednesday, November 21, 2007 By Ferdie de la TorreReporter

Former Kagman High School principal Doreen M. Tudela was sentenced yesterday to five months in prison in connection with charges that she stole the school's sale of pizzas worth over $37,000.

Tudela pleaded guilty to issuance of bad checks.Superior Court Associate Judge David A. Wiseman sentenced Tudela to five years in prison, all suspended except for five months. Wiseman gave the former principal credit for one day that she spent in jail.He ordered Tudela to start serving the five-month prison term at the Department of Corrections in Susupe on Dec. 15 at 8am. After completing her sentence, Tudela will be placed on supervised probation.The judge required the defendant to write a letter of apology to Kagman High School students and pay to have the letter published in the Saipan Tribune and Marianas Variety.Wiseman required the defendant to perform 500 hours of community work service and pay a $1,000 fine, $25 in court assessment fee plus probation fees.Pursuant to the Commonwealth Code, Wiseman said, Tudela shall be prohibited from being employed by the CNMI government for 10 years from the date of her conviction.He said a government employee convicted of stealing government funds must do time in prison in order to send a message to others that such corrupt conduct cannot and will not be tolerated.“However, such sentencing is subject to reduction where mitigating factors are found to be present. After a thorough examination of the facts of this case, the court finds that mitigating factors are present,” Wiseman said.He said Tudela has taken full responsibility for her actions and offered to make restitution and did in fact do so in the sum of $37,000.Wiseman said Tudela has no criminal record and has expressed sincere remorse for her actions.He said the defendant has also cooperated with the government regarding other cases of alleged violation of laws.“It is for these reasons, as well as defendant's lack of contact with the criminal system and considering the terms and conditions of the plea agreement that the court believes it to be in the best interests of justice to accept it,” the judge said.Police arrested Tudela in June 2007 after a Public Auditor's investigation showed that, as principal of KHS, she allegedly obtained $37,000 that belonged to the school over a three-year period and used the money for her own needs.The Attorney General's Office initially charged Tudela with one count of theft, two counts of issuance of bad checks, and one count of misconduct in public office.Tudela had initially pleaded innocent of the charges but changed her plea yesterday on the charge of passing bad checks. The AGO dismissed three of the charges and proceeded with the single charge of issuance of bad checks.At the change of plea hearing, Wiseman said he reluctantly accepted the plea agreement.“I use the word reluctantly because this court believes that a great harm to any society or community is corruption in any form and especially in the form of a breach of the public trust that is vested in employees working for the government,” he said.The judge said corruption undermines faith in public institutions, and takes away valuable resources aimed at improving the quality of life of citizens.Public auditor investigator Rolando G. Decena said in court papers that Tudela confessed she used her position as then KHS principal to steal the money for her “personal use.”Decena said Tudela voluntarily signed a statement and submitted it to OPA.“During my term as school principal, I do hereby admit to requesting and receiving monies from the non-appropriated school funds under the administration ledger account,” said Tudela in her statement.The defendant also stated that the monies were used to help with her family's cost of living and financial problems as her husband had lost his job.“What I did was wrong and I want to do what is right by admitting the truth in this statement and by paying back all monies to the school,” she said.According to Decena the investigation started after OPA received a complaint from an anonymous caller in November 2006.The caller requested that Tudela be investigated for stealing the collection of rental from a concessionaire of the KHS Student Canteen from 2002 until she transferred to the PSS' central office for another position in 2006.OPA learned in December 2006 from then new KHS principal, Alfred Ada, that Barny's Pizza and Kalayaan are the two businesses that have a contract with the Public School System to serve lunches for KHS students at the school cafeteria.