FORMER AIDS ALLIANCE OFFICIAL SENTENCED FOR THEFT

December 21, 2004

DECEMBER 21, 2004

MICHAEL J. COLLERAN, ASSISTANT ATTORNEY GENERAL, 207-626-8834

 

                  Attorney General Steven Rowe announced that Randall Norcross, 65, of Hallowell, was sentenced yesterday to three years in jail, with all but six months suspended, on a felony theft conviction.  Norcross will be on probation for four years after his release and must pay $23,569.75 in restitution to his victim, the Augusta-based Maine AIDS Alliance.

                  Norcross had earlier pled guilty to the theft charge and admitted to stealing more than $23,000 from the Maine Aids Alliance from December of 1999 until he left the organization at the end of 2001.  During that period, Norcross was Executive Director of the non-profit, which is an umbrella group for AIDS service organizations across Maine.  According to Assistant Attorney General Michael J. Colleran, who prosecuted the case, Norcross wrote more than 230 unauthorized checks for personal expenses on the Maine AIDS Alliance checking account.

                  In imposing the sentence, Maine Superior Court Justice Kirk Studstrup characterized Norcross’ conduct as “the systematic looting of the funds of the Maine Aids Alliance.”

The Norcross case is the third case in thirteen months where the Attorney General’s Office has successfully prosecuted an insider for stealing from a non-profit corporation.  In November of 2003, Armour L. Goodman, a bookkeeper, pled guilty to stealing more than $30,000 from the Washburn-Norlands Living History Center in Livermore.  Goodman was sentenced to three years of incarceration, with all but nine months suspended.  In September of this year, Sarah J. Tracy, of Skowhegan, was sentenced to two-and-a-half years of incarceration, with all but five months suspended, after a Portland jury found her guilty of theft and misuse of entrusted property arising out of her tenure as President of the Board of Directors of EMC Affordable Housing Preservation, a Westbrook non-profit devoted to providing low income housing.  According to Colleran, who prosecuted all three cases, Tracy stole more than $30,000 from the non-profit.  Tracy has appealed the conviction.

                  Attorney General Rowe said, “Non-profit groups serve a vital function for the people of Maine, and they depend on maintaining good reputations.  We will vigorously prosecute those who abuse their positions in nonprofits and steal funds.”

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