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Editor: Bob Battle
Profession: DUI Defense Lawyer

Category: DUI DUIrony

Just when you thought my post about an actor named Rip Torn being charged with a DUI was going to win top spot for this month's DUIrony category, along comes the indictment of a former New Jersey police chief and head of the state's Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) chapter for allegedly embezzling $150,000 from MADD.

New Jersey State Attorney General Stuart Rabiner alleges that Clayton police chief Frank Winters, 60, and his wife Bernice, 56, created a company called "Holiday House" that received $150,000 to produce promotional items for MADD. The promised key chains, pens and other promotional items were never produced, but, according to the indictment, the funds ended up in a bank account belonging to the couple.

In addition to being police chief for the borough of Clayton, Frank Winters was a Newfield borough councilman, former chairman of MADD-New Jersey and a member of the national board of directors for MADD. According to the charges filed, the funds that they allegedly embezzled were used to pay off their own credit card bills and cover other personal expenses between July 2001 in March 2004.

"The alleged scheme is shocking on a number of levels," Attorney General Rabner said in a statement.

"The head of any police agency bears even greater responsibility to uphold the public trust than his or her sworn members. It's rare but tragic when someone in this position lets the public down in such a profound way," New Jersey State Police Superintendent Rick Fuentes said.

This is not the first reported case of financial mismanagement at MADD. The Toronto Star reported in December that MADD Canada spent 81% of donations on telemarketing and fundraising with only 19% going toward projects related to the group stated mission. The group's website had previously claimed 83.6% of donations went directly to its programs. After the Toronto Star story, the 83.6 % claim was removed from MADD Canada's website.