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Kathleen Fonti repaid the money over a year, but authorities said that was only after the union found out.
Fonti, 55, of Rochelle Park, could go to federal prison for a year when she is sentenced by U.S. Magistrate Michael A. Shipp on Sept. 17. Shipp released her on a $50,000 bond until then.
During a plea hearing in U.S. District Court in Newark, Fonti admitted she illegally borrowed more than $14,500 from the Health Professionals and Allied Employees (“HPAE”) Local 5030 by using the 800-member local’s American Express card.
The charges, she said, were for hotel bills and other expenses related to her son’s August 2007 wedding in New York City.
Acting U.S. Attorney Ralph J. Marra Jr. credited investigators from the U.S. Department of Labor Office of Labor Management Standards with helping make the case, presented in Newark by Assistant U.S. Attorney Jonathan W. Romankow.
HPAE Local 5030 represents including nurses, social workers, dietary,housekeeping, and technical workers at Palisades Medical Center, on River Road in North Bergen.
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