Washington Post Thursday, November 5, 2009

Former Washington Teachers' Union president Barbara Bullock, sentenced to prison in 2004 for masterminding the theft of nearly $5 million from D.C. educators, was released from federal custody Wednesday.

A spokesman for the Federal Bureau of Prisons said Bullock, 71, has been in a halfway house and under home confinement since her release from Alderson Federal Prison Camp in West Virginia in May.

She served about five years of a nine-year sentence.

Bullock will wear an electronic monitoring device and be placed under the supervision of parole officials.

Bullock and two other union officials, office manager Gwen Hemphill and treasurer James Baxter, used embezzled funds to pay for clothes, jewelry, furs, trips and season tickets to athletic events. In 2003, Bullock agreed to testify against Hemphill and Baxter. They were sentenced to 11 and 10 years, respectively, and Bullock's sentence was reduced in exchange for her cooperation.

The American Federation of Teachers estimates that roughly $5 million was taken from its subsidiary, the Washington Teachers Union, between 1996 and 2002. The amounts below are just those that can be directly traced to individual conspirators.

Barbara Bullock Barbara Bullock was president of the Washington Teachers Union from 1994 to 2003. In 2003 Bullock was forced out of her office after it was discovered that she had embezzled millions of dollars from the union. She racked up $1.8 million in unauthorized credit card charges and an additional $381,000 in illicit payments.

Gwendolyn Hemphill, an aide to Bullock, spent $492,000 in unauthorized credit card charges and checks.

James Baxter, the treasurer of the WTU, made $537,000 in credit card purchases and illicit payments.

Leroy Holmes was a chauffeur employed by the WTU. He cashed $1.2 million in improper checks for other conspirators and received an annual "salary" of $105,000 -- higher than any WTU official other than Bullock.

Michael Martin (Hemphill's son-in-law) and Errol Adelman operated the company "Expressions Unlimited," which billed the union for $483,000 in fraudulent expenses.