NEW YORK CITY: Former Bronx LGBT Center Head Arrested For Embezzlement

The former executive director of the Bronx LGBT Center has been arrested for embezzling over $338,000 from the group she once headed.

Lisa Winters, 42, who was let go as head of the Bronx Community Pride Center in January 2010, used the dough to pay $25,751.74 to Eyes on Africa for a personal trip and $15,953 to a dog-walker, authorities said. She also paid thousands of dollars for trips to the United Kingdom, the Turks and Caicos Islands and the Carolinas, according to the criminal complaint. Winters was fired from center by its board of directors in January 2010 after proof surfaced that she misappropriated funds, according to a Department of Investigation report. Winters was arrested June 15 and charged with grand larceny and 23 counts of falsifying business records for allegedly cutting checks for her benefit to the tune of more than $143,000. She was freed without bail at her arraignment. The Bronx district attorney's office is still investigating whether additional charges may be brought, a spokesman said. A DOI report from January concluded Winters swindled as much as $338,000 from the organization between 2005 and 2009, the years she served as executive director. The Hunts Point center helps provide medical and social services to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people in the Bronx.

The above-linked news item reports that it was employees of the Center who brought their charges to its board of directors, adding that they claimed she was often "drunk at work."