The former president of the Lawrence teachers union has retained the services of a Topeka criminal defense lawyer amid reports that thousands of dollars in union dues are missing.

“I just sent a letter to the District Attorney’s Office over there (in Douglas County), letting them know that I’m representing Wayne,” said attorney Mark Bennett, referring to Wayne Kruse, a sixth-grade teacher at Quail Run School.

Kruse was president of the Lawrence Education Assn. last year when $97,000 in union dues turned up missing.

Bennett said he and Kruse would be glad to talk to police as soon as they were made aware of the allegations against Kruse.

“We don’t know specifics,” Bennett said. “Until we do, we’re not prepared to respond to them. Once we do, we’ll decide how to proceed from there.”

Police last week confirmed reports that $97,000 in union dues deducted from teachers’ paychecks between Nov. 4, 2003, and Aug. 3, 2004, could not be accounted for and that the money was likely stolen.

As a courtesy, USD 497 deducts union dues from LEA members’ monthly paychecks and then cuts checks to both LEA and its parent organization, Kansas-National Education Assn. Checks to K-NEA and LEA are forwarded to LEA, which is responsible for making sure K-NEA receives its share.

The missing $97,000 represents about 40 percent of the dues deducted from LEA members’ paychecks between Nov. 4, 2003, and Aug. 3, 2004.

School district officials on Tuesday suspended Kruse with pay, pending the outcome of the investigation.

6News video: Lawyer hired by ex-LEA leader (01-13-05) Teacher suspended as dues probe continues (01-12-05) 6News video: Teacher suspended during probe (01-11-05) Teachers question missing dues (01-11-05) 6News video: Teachers have faith in LEA despite theft (01-07-05) Teachers’ union missing funds (1-7-05) 6News video: Police seek missing LEA funds (01-06-05) Kansas National Education Association

David Schauner, K-NEA general counsel and a Lawrence city commissioner, said the only reason Kruse would be unaware of the specific allegations was because he had refused to meet either K-NEA or police.

“We’ve attempted on multiple occasion to meet with Mr. Bennett’s client, and we’ve been refused those opportunities,” Schauner said. “I’m confident that when Mr. Bennett and his client meet with police, they will be provided all the detail they need.”

Kruse has not returned phone messages from the Journal-World requesting an interview.

If charges are filed against Kruse, it is unclear who would act as prosecutor.

Douglas County Dist. Atty. Charles Branson confirmed that Kruse’s name appeared on two newspaper ads expressing support for Branson’s election campaign last year. Branson said Kruse did not contribute money to his campaign.

“If there’s a conflict (of interest), the case would be referred out for either the (state) Attorney General’s Office or to another prosecutor to handle,” Branson said. “But at this point, it’s premature to say there’s a conflict because the investigation is still active and no report has been filed with this office.”

Branson said he had not seen or spoken with Kruse since the election.