While under the leadership of Teresa Judkins, the Alaska Eskimo Whaling Commission had a thief in its midst, someone the commission should have been able to rely on to look out for its interests, according to federal prosecutors.
In a two-count indictment announced Monday, a grand jury in Anchorage accuses Judkins of swiping from the commission more than $100,000 from the organization's coffers.
Judkins was a longtime employee of the commission, which protects Alaska Natives' rights to hunt bowhead whales, having spent 10 years working as the group's accountant and finance director. After a one-year break, she was hired as the group's executive director in 2007. While serving in this capacity, prosecutors allege, Judkins began to abuse her access to $100,339 of the organization's funds.
She took payroll advances but never paid them back, purchased plane tickets, hotel stays and rental cars for herself and her relatives for trips that had nothing to do with official AWEC business. She also bought herself a snowmachine and wrote company checks for personal use, the indictment says. According to court records, Judkins took or misspent $40,693 in 2007 and $59,646 in 2008.
Judkins was fired from her job in 2008. Reached Monday at their offices in Barrow, AWEC officials wouldn't say whether Judkin's departure in 2008 was related to the alleged embezzlement. They declined to talk about her past employment or the charges.
Her arraignment on the federal charges is scheduled for next month. If convicted, she faces up to 10 years in jail and a $250,000 fine.