Former Arlington teacher’s union president charged with embezzlement
The former president of the Arlington Education Association has been arrested and charged with multiple felonies after police say she stole hundreds of thousands of thousands from the organization.
The former president of a Virginia teachers union was arrested and charged with embezzling hundreds of thousands of dollars from the organization, according to police.
Ingrid Gant, the former president of the Arlington Education Association (AEA), was arrested after police conducted a six-month audit that showed that she embezzled $410,782.10 from the union, according to a press release from the Fairfax County Police Department.
Gant was charged with four counts of embezzlement where she allegedly used debit cards for unauthorized purchases and gave herself multiple bonuses.
An internal audit was ordered after AEA board members grew concerned about their leader's suspicious behavior. Gant allegedly failed to provide financial reports to the board and did not file tax returns, police said.
According to the Fairfax County Police Department, 54-year-old Ingrid Gant, of Prince William County, became the president of the Arlington Education Association (AEA) in 2016 and was fired in 2022. (Fox 5 )
She was fired in March 2022 and her removal prompted board members to hire an outside group, the Calibre CPA Group, to conduct an internal audit which uncovered Grant's gross misuse of taxpayer's money.
After six months of reviewing her activity, investigators discovered Gant gifted herself $350,000 worth of bonuses and pay from 2020 to 2022. She also charged approximately $70,000 on business debit cards for personal items like gas, food, and even Amazon purchases.
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Captain Ryan Lazisky with the Fairfax County Police Department told Fox 5 that embezzlement cases in teacher unions are more common than people think.
"It's unfortunate that people will take advantage," Captain Lazisky told FOX 5. "That association is set up and built to protect teachers, so it's sad to see that teachers were taken advantage of. This money is for them."
The AEA represents more than 15,000 Arlington public school teachers.
The AEA is the local union for Arlington public school educators. (Arlington Police Department)
"AEA is pursuing all legal channels to recoup any lost funds and hold those responsible accountable. Under its new leadership, AEA has already implemented stronger financial controls and transparent reporting practices to ensure sound operation." the new president wrote in a statement to Fox 5.
Gant was arrested at her Prince William County home Monday night but was released on an unsecured bond.
During her tenure as president of the teacher's union, Gant drew backlash over her COVID-19 policies.
One homeschool took to Twitter to expose the union after it sent a letter riddled with grammatical and typographical errors.
Ellen Gallery, a homeschooling mother of three who lives in the area, claimed that she and her kids had gone through the letter, correcting mistakes. The mother posted a picture of the letter with copious corrections, faulting AEA for leaving out words, adding unnecessary commas, confusing subject-verb agreement, and more.
One offending pair of sentences read, "The fire departments in are region are exemplifying domino outbreaks as well. APS employees are no different or above this trend, yet leadership prepares to send educators into situations that will make them sick." In the first sentence, Gant used "are" when she clearly meant to write "our." Gallery and her kids suggested "neither different nor above" for the second sentence.
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"Being able to write a clear, persuasive letter is a fundamental skill all students should master before high school," Gallery told Fox News Digital. "The quality of this writing was so glaringly terrible that it distracts from the writer's message."
The Virginia Education Association sent Fox News Digital a statement from Gant explaining the errors, sharing that the district sent out the draft instead of the final letter.
