Kendall Coffey on former BTU president Pat Santeramo

It doesn’t seem possible that the president of a teachers’ union would be able to amass a great deal of money, even if they were using less-than-legal means.  But in Fort Lauderdale former Broward Teachers Union Pat Santeramo seems to have proven that idea wrong, as he has been accused of stealing nearly $300,000 of union funds. 

How did he manage to do all of that?  It’s alleged that he took part of a scheme where he worked with a contracting company, Marstan Construction of Coral Springs, to charge the Union inflated prices for basic services including changing light bulbs, killing ants, dying carpets, or other maintenance work.  The construction company, in return, kicked back cash to Santeramo in amounts ranging from $1,000 to $20,000 a pop.

The board, especially former BTU board member Jeanne Albertus, became suspicious when they saw the same company receive all of the contract work, and to see large amounts of it.

“I didn’t think anyone could be infected with that many ants,” said investigator Sheriff Al Lamberti.  "With every bill, there was something tacked on for him."

Santeramo also used union credit cards to pay for items not related to BTU business, reimbursed members and associates for the contributions they made to political campaigns, and used forged documents to obtain nearly $122,000 of unused vacation and sick hours when he resigned in December.

Luckily there was documentation in the termination agreement that should help the prosecutors.  According to Kendall Coffey, the lawyer representing BTU, that agreement contained a specific carve-out that the union can seek the money if there was any kind of fraud committed.

He, and the union plan to “take whatever action may be appropriate to try to recover the funds.”  They very well might have a better chance than most, as Santeramo was under investigation by the police for about nine months. 

"We now have the benefit of a very extensive police investigation, which we suspect may well serve as a road map for our recovery efforts," Kendall Coffey explained.