Kruse avoids prison time

Teachers union blamed for lack of oversight in embezzlement case

The former head of Lawrence’s teachers union won’t spend time behind bars for embezzling nearly $100,000 in union dues.

A judge on Monday instead sentenced former Lawrence Education Assn. President Wayne A. Kruse to two years’ probation.

Before a courtroom filled with about 50 spectators, Kruse told Judge Jack Murphy he felt like professor Harold Hill, the con-artist title character in “The Music Man.”

“My careless actions have hurt so many people,” Kruse said. “I am so embarrassed and so remorseful that I took this sacred profession for granted.”

Murphy criticized the LEA as he pronounced sentence, saying he was amazed that an organization that handled hundreds of thousands of dollars didn’t have more financial controls.

“This crime was too easy to commit,” he said.

Adela Solis, LEA vice president, said the judge’s criticism was valid. She said the union had added controls, such as vouchers and requiring two signatures on checks.

Kruse, right.

“You can’t get a postage stamp without a voucher,” she said.

Kruse, a former sixth-grade teacher at Quail Run School, had earlier pleaded guilty to one count of felony theft and one count of forgery for taking money that was supposed to have been forwarded to the Kansas National Education Assn.

Prosecutor Steve Howe said Kruse took the money because he wanted to live with the “high rollers” in Lawrence.

“He wanted to go out and eat or go out and do fun things on everyone else’s dollar,” Howe said.

Because Kruse had no criminal record, Kansas sentencing guidelines called for probation. But Howe sought to imprison Kruse under a law that allows stiffer sentencing for crimes involving a breach of financial trust.

“I think it would be almost outrageous for this defendant … to not even see what the inside of a jail looks like,” Howe said.

Howe repeatedly reminded the judge that students are taught in school that their actions have consequences. Even if Murphy didn’t want to send Kruse to prison, he could have ordered 60 days’ “shock time” in jail, Howe said.

But Mark Bennett, Kruse’s attorney, said “60 days in the county jail isn’t going to accomplish anything” other than making it harder for Kruse to pay his $95,384 in court-ordered restitution.

Bennett read excerpts from some of the roughly 35 letters from students, parents and other teachers that were sent to the judge in support of Kruse. One of the letters said that Kruse had “a gift to touch and to change the lives of his students.”

Murphy said he realized that Kruse had lost “a distinguished teaching career” and said he’d never received so many letters of support before a sentencing.

Kruse also will have to write a letter of apology, complete a “theft offender” program and do 100 hours of community service.