The former head of a nonprofit agency created to help people with disabilities pleaded guilty Monday to stealing state and federal grant money given to the program.
Janice Roberts, who was executive director of Oregon RISE until she resigned in June 2012, pleaded guilty in Marion County Circuit Court to two counts of first-degree aggravated theft under a plea agreement. Additional charges of aggravated theft, theft and identity theft were dismissed.
Roberts is scheduled to be sentenced Dec. 16. She will have to pay more than $78,000 in restitution for stealing from Oregon RISE and the National Indian Parent Information Center, which provided similar services under the Oregon RISE umbrella, according to Marion County Deputy District Attorney Doug Prince.
Roberts, 50, of Wilsonville made no statements in court other than answering Judge Susan Tripp's questions that she was pleading guilty and that she understood what the plea meant.
Roberts didn't make eye contact with the three people in the gallery, which included a former Oregon RISE board president and a representative of the National Indian Parent Information Center.
Roberts hid the bottom half of her face in her red scarf several times during the hearing and buried her entire face in the scarf soon after a sentencing date was announced.
Roberts resigned from Oregon RISE amid reports of unpaid bills and questionable finances. She was indicted in June 2013. The Salem nonprofit used to be called the Oregon Parent Information and Training Center.
Since Roberts' resignation, the state Department of Education pulled more than $500,000 in grants from Oregon Rise, the nonprofit's board disbanded and the agency closed.
The restitution that was supposed to go to Oregon RISE will go to the Education Department, Prince said.
Roberts stole the money between July 2006 and March 2012, court records show. It's not clear where it all went, Prince said.
Randy Anderson, a former Oregon RISE board member, and Christine Bruno, board chairwoman for the National Indian Parent Information Center, said Roberts stole more than $50,000 from Oregon RISE and more than $20,000 from the parent information center.
Anderson, who said he stepped down from the board after becoming romantically involved with Roberts while she was executive director, said he saw Roberts spend a lot of money on video poker.
After Roberts' problems surfaced, the state gave the grant instead to FACT Oregon, a Clackamas County-based organization that works with families with disabled children, Anderson said.
The theft hurt the children and families who were supposed to benefit from the money, Bruno said.
"It's something we can't go back in time and fix," she said.
-- Everton Bailey Jr.