Texas Police Officers Charged With Stealing From Red Cross

Two Houston police officers are accused of stealing money given by the American Red Cross and administered by the local Urban League office, The Houston Chronicle reports.

Officers Tracie Denise Bell and Kirshondra Richardson were indicted by a grand jury on Tuesday on charges that they billed the Red Cross over $166,000 last summer to operate a two-week basketball camp for Katrina evacuees that lasted only two days. Both officers have been suspended with pay.

A lawyer for Ms. Bell said he had not seen the evidence against her but knew his client intends to fight the charges. A lawyer for Ms. Richardson could not be reached for comment, the newspaper said.

Meanwhile, a grand jury on Tuesday also heard opening arguments in the case against the former executive director, Kenneth Beatty, of the Sickle Cell Association of the Texas Gulf Coast. Mr. Beatty and his financial administrative assistant, Willie Carlean Cruse, were charged with felony theft of more than $200,000 after Mr. Beatty resigned his post in 2004.

Mr. Cruse has pleaded guilty to the theft, the newspaper says. Mr. Beatty’s lawyer did not respond to the specific charges, but said his client had been made a “scapegoat” by the local United Way as a way to justify its decision to no longer give money to the charity.