Pat Tornillo To Serve Two Years In Plea Deal

Tornillo To Serve Two Years In Plea Deal Tornillo Will Get Two-Year Sentence NBC 6 News Team

MIAMI -- The longtime leader of the Miami-Dade County teacher's union pleaded guilty Monday in a deal after a public corruption task force found he fraudulently charged the organization for up to $650,000 in personal expenses for cruises, vacations and other luxuries.

Pat Tornillo, on leave from the United Teachers of Dade, pleaded guilty to mail fraud and filing a false tax return under the deal in exchange for the two-year sentence. The maximum sentence for the charges was eight years.

News of a potential deal leaked on Friday, with a newspaper reporting the deal would also allow Tornillo's wife to avoid prosecution. Tornillo, who will reportedly surrender to authorities this week, will reportedly also be protected from further prosecution as part of the plea deal.

SOUTH FLORIDA TEACHERS UNIONS: CROOKS 'N PERVS? Crook. The head of the teacher's union in Broward, Tony Gentile, was arrested in '01 for child porn. Here's more:

TEACHERS South Florida Boss Pleads Guilty Longtime Broward (Fla.) Teachers Union president Tony Gentile admitted Nov. 30 that he arranged for a sexual tryst with an Internet pal he thought was a 14-year-old girl. Gentile, who resigned last month after 22 years as head of the BTU, faces a likely prison term after pleading guilty to federal charges of attempting to entice a minor into a sex act and sending child pornography over the Internet. Gentile was arrested July 26 in a sting that started four months earlier in Ala. and ended at a Circle K store in Ft. Lauderdale, where Gentile discovered that the girl he had been corresponding with was actually an undercover cop. He was indicted by federal grand juries in Florida and Alabama.

Gentile, 54, who once regarded as a powerful political force in Broward County, took deep breaths as he stood before U.S. Dist. Judge William P. Dimitrouleas (S.D. Fla., Clinton). According to the plea agreement, the ex-union boss would face between 46 and 57 months in prison. However, Dimitrouleas is not bound by that agreement and could sentence Gentile to as many as 20 years at his sentencing in Feb. 2002. Gentile, joined by his wife, declined to comment after the proceedings. He has 2 grown children and one child in high school. Gentile, who led a "politically active" union in the nation's fifth-largest school district, has served on the boards of the NAACP, Nat'l Conference of Christians & Jews, and the United Way.

John Ristow, spokesman for BTU, said the union has made a strong effort to get past the incident, including asking for Gentile's resignation. BTU agreed to give Gentile $140,000 as part of a severance settlement. Ristow said the settlement was only what BTU's attorneys thought was owed to Gentile and what Gentile could potentially recover in court. Ristow said reaction to the payoff has been mixed. "People have come to me and said he should have gotten double the amount of money because he has worked for the union for three decades," Ristow said. "Others say he should get nothing because of what he did." [Sun-Sentinel (Ft. Lauderdale) 12/01/01]

Source URL: http://www.nlpc.org/olap/UCU3/04_26_36.htm

"News of a potential deal leaked on Friday, with a newspaper reporting the deal would also allow Tornillo's wife to avoid prosecution. Tornillo, who will reportedly surrender to authorities this week, will reportedly also be protected from further prosecution as part of the plea deal...

Prosecutors tracked the charges on union and personal credit cards for the past five years. He agreed to pay $650,000 in restitution, $160,000 in back taxes plus interest and penalties and a $25,000 fine."

I wonder how much else he stole PRIOR to the 5 years that were researched?! He also had an account which he used, that no one else knew about to hide the stolen money. I wonder, too, if there are more accounts out there yet to be uncovered.

Who will make sure that the restitution is even paid?

Why was this investigation and trial expedited...and by whom?

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