Former Office of Student Activities (OSA) Director Jodie Nealley was driven by a gambling addiction as she stole more than $300,000 from Tufts, according to her attorney.
Nealley will plead guilty on June 11 to larceny charges, closing a chapter in a scandal that has reverberated throughout the university since 2007.
"This is part of a healing process for her," attorney Howard Lewis said of the plea. "She wants to begin the process of … making amends to her family and to all parties harmed by her gambling addiction."
Nealley and Ray Rodriguez, the OSA's former budget and fiscal coordinator, are charged with stealing a combined total of nearly $1 million from the university in separate schemes. Until earlier this month, neither had offered any public explanation for their alleged involvement.
But in announcing the guilty plea to the Daily, Lewis, of the Framingham firm Lewis & Leeper, LLC, said that Nealley's compulsive casino visits drove her into debt over the years, and that she turned to Tufts accounts for money to feed her habit.
"Cash was necessary to gamble. She didn't want goods, she didn't want property; she's a gambling addict," Lewis told the Daily.
"Unfortunately, Ms. Nealley has nothing to show for what she did except debt. She didn't do it for any other reason except for the disease."
Nealley was initially expected to plead guilty during May 8 proceedings at the Middlesex County Superior Court in Woburn, but that day, a last-minute motion breathed new life at least temporarily into her case.
While a small group of onlookers dotted the courtroom expecting closure, Lewis, the prosecuting attorney and Rodriguez's lawyer retired for a closed-door session with the judge.
During that meeting, Lewis convinced the court to order a pre-sentence investigation to determine whether Nealley could avoid incarceration. This investigation will push the guilty plea back until the next court date on June 11. At that time, Nealley will also receive her sentence.
While the attorneys conferenced with Judge Sandra Hamlin, both Rodriguez and Nealley sat waiting in the courtroom.
Flanked by her son, her spouse and a handful of friends from Gamblers Anonymous, Nealley sat toward the front of the room, occasionally tearing up as she chatted with her supporters.
Rodriguez, meanwhile, sat alone in the back, arms crossed and eyes averted. Unlike Nealley, Rodriguez has not publicly indicated whether he will change the not-guilty plea he entered in August; both he and his attorney, Steven Goldwyn, declined to comment while in court.
As part of the May 8 agreement, an officer from the court's Probation Department will interview Nealley and her family and submit a report to Hamlin.
The officer will look to determine whether Nealley is a suitable candidate to receive probation rather than time behind bars. Hamlin will take the report into consideration when she sentences Nealley.
"[This] gives Probation time to meet with Jodie and her son and her spouse and see where she lives and see if there's something they can do besides putting her in jail," Lewis said.
Currently, Middlesex County District Attorney Gerry Leone's office is requesting three years of incarceration for Nealley, but according to Lewis, "that's not going to happen."
While Lewis is seeking probation, at Tufts, the administration appears to favor a harsher sentence.
"I think that the university feels that this crime deserves a punishment that reflects the impact that it had on the university community, and jail time would be appropriate," Senior University Counsel Dickens Mathieu told the Daily during the May 8 proceedings.
Mathieu, who was expecting a guilty plea, was at court that day on behalf of Tufts and was prepared to read a victim impact statement. But as a result of the motion, he will delay presenting the statement until June 11.
Lewis countered that jail time would not be useful in this case. "Putting her in jail will cost the Commonwealth a lot of money, and it's not going to do any good," he said.
He added that Nealley is planning to pay restitution to Chubb Insurance, which earlier this academic year compensated Tufts for its losses.
After their court appearance, both Nealley and Rodriguez filled out forms that are the first step in setting up an interview with the Probation Department. As a condition of the court arrangement, the Probation Department will also conduct a pre-sentencing investigation for Rodriguez, even as it remains unclear if he is bracing himself for a trial.
As they handled the paperwork, Rodriguez was unaccompanied, while Nealley, who declined to comment, left the courthouse surrounded by her supporters.
"She's very emotional," Lewis said. "Above all else, she's embarrassed and she feels horrible about how she let down Tufts."
Nealley was fired from Tufts in 2007 after EthicsPoint, a third-party service employed by the university, received an anonymous tip about irregularities in the OSA. An audit ensued and turned up evidence that Nealley had misappropriated funds.
Further investigation also unearthed transactions implicating Rodriguez, who allegedly pilfered over $600,000 from the university.
When Nealley and Rodriguez were arraigned in August, both pled not guilty. After the proceedings, Lewis told the Daily that in an ironic twist of fate, it was Rodriguez who filed the anonymous complaint against Nealley.
Lewis said that Rodriguez was angry about being passed over for a promotion and did not anticipate getting himself caught up as well. Leone's office has never confirmed this allegation.
Earlier this month, in announcing Nealley's intention to plead guilty, Lewis still had harsh words for Rodriguez, who he insinuated was motivated solely by greed. "There doesn't appear to be any reason or rationale for what he did," Lewis said.
Rodriguez, who reportedly confessed to his role in the scandal when police searched his home, is charged with spending the $604,873 he allegedly took from Tufts between 2005-2007 on trips, concert tickets and luxury goods from stores such as Gucci, Hermes, Coach and Prada. "He must have bought an awful lot of clothes," Lewis said.
In the process, Rodriguez allegedly opened a number of credit cards using both his name and that of the university and then used money from Tufts to pay. He also supposedly wrote himself a check for $100,000 on Aug. 9, 2007.
Meanwhile, Nealley has been accused of using $372,576 in university funds between 2001-2007 in locations ranging from IKEA to Omaha Steaks and Foxwoods Resort Casino.
Specifically, prosecutors have said that her crimes included transferring $63,500 to her personal line of credit and $91,000 to her Bank of America checking account.
Still, even as he admitted Nealley's guilt, Lewis denied that his client spent stolen money anywhere else than in casinos.
"Unfortunately, those allegations aren't true, but in the scope of things, it's difficult to disprove," he said.
According to Lewis, Nealley is currently working at Zen Massage Center, a Wayland business owned by her spouse, Charnan Bray.
Nealley is also attending private counseling sessions and Gamblers Anonymous meetings.
"She's been going through counseling … and she wants to accept responsibility for her actions," Lewis said.
