By Michael P. Mayko
Connecticut Post Online (Bridgeport, Connecticut)
Copyright 2006 MediaNews Group, Inc.
All Rights Reserved
BRIDGEPORT, Conn. — The former treasurer of a union representing employees of American Medical Response and the Greater New Haven Transit Co. pleaded guilty to embezzling as much as $108,533 to pay his bills, furnish his home and buy gifts.
Andrew Konspore, 34, of North Haven, a Branford firefighter and paramedic, waived his right to a federal grand jury indictment and pleaded guilty to the embezzlement charge.
The charge carries a maximum five-year prison term. The plea agreement worked out between Assistant U.S. Attorney Anthony Kaplan and Konspore’s lawyer, Michael Fitzpatrick, calls for the former union executive to receive a 12-to 18-month prison term. It also bars him from holding any union position for the next 13 years.
U.S. District Judge Janet C. Hall allowed Konspore’s release on a $50,000 bond pending a Dec. 14 sentencing.
Kaplan said Konspore served from March 2001 to December 2004 as treasurer for the Northeast Emergency Services Union. He said evidence would show that Konspore withdrew cash from union bank accounts and wrote checks to pay personal expenses and buy gifts.
For example, the prosecutor said that Konspore wrote 34 checks drawn on the union’s accounts. These were used by Konspore to pay $5,367 in United Illuminating bills and $5,743 in Southern Connecticut Gas bills for his home.