"Officials accused of taking funds from Lynn cable channel" by Aneri Pattani, Globe Correspondent March 13, 2015
The state attorney general’s office is suing current and former top officials of the Lynn community access cable channel for allegedly misappropriating tens of thousands of dollars in charitable funds for personal use, officials said.
Both the current and former presidents of Lynn Community Access and Media and a family member of each are named in the lawsuit, the attorney general’s office said.
The office filed the lawsuit Thursday in Suffolk Superior Court against LynnCAM’s current president, Robert Sewell, and his brother-in-law, Almanzo Rodriguez, and its former president, Karen Chapman, and her husband, John Chapman.
A preliminary hearing has been set for April 2 in Suffolk Superior Court.
LynnCAM is a Massachusetts nonprofit organized in 2005 that operates a community television studio to provide public, educational, and municipal access in Lynn, Swampscott, Lynnfield, Nahant, and parts of Saugus.
“We allege that these defendants abused their positions of power and were responsible for the misappropriation of charitable funds from this nonprofit,” Attorney General Maura Healey said in a statement. “Actions such as the ones alleged here cause financial harm to the charity and its mission and undermine the public’s trust. We hope that through this action, we can recover the money rightfully owed back to the charity.”
Neither John Chapman, Karen Chapman, nor Sewell returned messages seeking comment. There is no telephone listing for Almanzo Rodriguez in Lynn. An employee at LynnCAM said he had been advised not to speak on the matter.
John Chapman is also facing criminal charges in connection with LynnCAM, said Carrie Kimball Monahan, a spokeswoman for Essex District Attorney Jonathan Blodgett.
Chapman was indicted on Oct. 2 on charges of falsifying or omitting an entry in books, larceny over $250, business bribe, identity fraud, larceny by check over $250, and uttering a false check.
He was released on personal recognizance and ordered to avoid contact with anyone involved in the case. He is to appear in Salem Superior Court for a motion to dismiss the charges, Monahan said.
Two LynnCAM board members are also being sued by the attorney general for failing to exercise proper oversight of the nonprofit’s operations.
The lawsuit seeks to have the six defendants pay restitution to LynnCAM and also seeks to bar them from serving in any position of authority in any other Massachusetts public charity.
The attorney general’s office is responsible for overseeing the state’s nonprofit charitable organizations.
--more--"
