School Dining Director Pleads Guilty to Embezzlement

The former director of dining services for the Chartwells operation at East Lyme (MA) Schools has pleaded guilty to embezzling more than $335,000, reports theday.com. Beverly Howard faces 16 months in prison after admitting to creating false deposit logs to hide her thefts of dining funds between 2006 and 2009. She could have faced up to 20 years for first-degree larceny before agreeing to a plea deal with the reduced sentence. Chartwells, which was the party victimized by the fraud, terminated the district manager who had supervised Howard, while the regional vice president was issued a written warning.