Judge orders Kruse to stand trial
A judge on Thursday ordered the former president of Lawrence’s teachers union to stand trial for allegedly embezzling more than $97,000 in union dues.
After a two-day preliminary hearing, District Court Judge Jack A. Murphy found there was enough evidence for Wayne Kruse to stand trial on charges he committed felony theft and forgery between November 2003 and August 2004, when he was president of the Lawrence Education Assn. Murphy scheduled a weeklong trial for Kruse starting Sept. 26.
Special prosecutor Steve Howe said Kruse treated union dues as “his own personal account.”
“He was moving money around, then covering it up,” Howe said.
Murphy turned down a request by defense attorney Mark Bennett to dismiss all counts against Kruse. Bennett said his client might be guilty of bad accounting, but not felony theft.
“There’s evidence that there weren’t very good records kept,” Bennett said. “There weren’t any records kept.”
Only at the end of Kruse’s presidency in summer 2004, Howe said, did it become clear how much in locally collected dues he had failed to pass on to the Kansas National Education Assn.
“The house of cards, so to speak, fell, and he could no longer put them off,” he said.
But Bennett said KNEA auditors never asked Kruse for a full explanation of the missing money. Had they done so, he said, they might have been satisfied with the explanation.
Kruse, left.
Bennett previously had asked witnesses whether they were aware that Kruse may have paid some of the union’s bills with the unwritten understanding that he would be paid back as the organization’s cash flow improved.
He also established that Kruse often picked up the tab for meals and drinks during meetings and gatherings with teachers.
Trial is expected to last a week. Kruse’s next court date was scheduled for July 11. He remains free on bond.
6News video: Kruse ordered to stand trial (05-12-05)
Kruse begins defense on theft charges (05-10-05)
6News video: Charges filed in missing dues case (03-08-05)City Government
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