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Client NewsNews Release FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE ASA Close to Recovering All of Stolen Student Funds- Former Executive Director Pleads Guilty to Theft - October 5, 2006 (PHOENIX, TX)The Arizona Students Association (ASA) recently reached a settlement in its civil lawsuit against its former Executive Director, Maceo Brown, that will help the organization get back all of the funds stolen by Mr. Brown. In the criminal case today, Mr. Brown pleaded guilty to theft and forgery; the plea may require him to serve one year and three months in jail. ASA worked closely with the Arizona Attorney Generals office over the last several months to reach this resolution on both the civil and criminal fronts after finding that Mr. Brown had been stealing money from ASA and covering it up by doctoring financial statements. Mr. Brown will repay the organization $60,000 within the next ten days, and through its own efforts, ASA has been able to recover $54,000 of the stolen funds. Mr. Brown will pay back the remainder of the money he stole over the next eight years. We are pleased that this matter has been resolved and that students advocacy funds are being recovered, said Eric Norgard, ASA board member and student body president at Northern Arizona University . Although this unfortunate situation was a distraction, ASA remained committed to important student issues throughout the resolution process. ASA has been spearheading comprehensive voter registration, education and motivation efforts on each campus in advance of the elections as part of its nationally acclaimed Students Are Voting Everywhere (SAVE) program. Last semester, ASA lobbied successfully on behalf of Arizona students at the State Capitol. State funding to the universities was increased by more than 11% over the previous years appropriation, and an additional $5 million was appropriated to the Arizona Financial Aid Trust. ASA also launched the Make Textbooks Affordable campaign on campuses across the state; as a result, the Arizona Board of Regents created a task force to investigate the cost of textbooks. We are moving forward, but we are using lessons learned in the past to prevent against a similar situation from happening in the future, said Norgard. We are excited to continue to devote our full energies to the business of the students. About ASA The Arizona Students Association is the statewide student advocacy association for all 120,000 public university students in Arizona and has been in existence since 1974. ASA helped get a voting student regent on the Arizona Board of Regents, proposed and won passage of the Arizona Financial Aid Trust Fund and coordinates the national award-winning Students Are Voting Everywhere (SAVE) program that registers students to vote, educates them on the issues and helps turn out the student vote on each campus. For more information, visit www.azstudents.org. ALL darbyDarnit NEWS RELEASES ALL CLIENT NEWS RELEASES
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