ELLSWORTH, Maine — A few years ago, Billie Jo Cunningham found herself working in the education and learning office of The Jackson Laboratory, helping to coordinate and promote the annual Maine State Science Fair for high school students.
On Friday, the 44-year-old Trenton resident found herself standing in an Ellsworth courtroom, being sentenced on a felony theft conviction and ordered to repay $20,000 to her former employer.
The four-year journey from one position to the next, according to officials familiar with Cunningham’s case, involved her being removed from her role as education outreach coordinator for the lab but keeping her authorization to use one of the lab’s credit cards for work-related expenses. She eventually was terminated from the lab, in September 2013, but only after she tried unsuccessfully to establish a similar annual event for middle school students called the Maine State Science and Engineering Fair and used the credit card to purchase dozens of items that were shipped to her home.
The misuse of the credit card was not discovered until after Cunningham was fired from the lab, police have said.
Attempts this week to contact Cunningham and her defense attorney, Dawn Corbett of Ellsworth, were unsuccessful.
According to an affidavit and search warrant request on file at the Hancock County Courthouse, items Cunningham purchased at the lab’s expense range from office electronics such as computers and power strips, to furniture, a vacuum cleaner and women’s shoes. She also was believed to have used the card to pay for groceries, alcohol, nicotine patches, auto repairs, students loans and legal services, Lt. David Kerns of the Bar Harbor Police Department wrote in the affidavit, which was filed at the Hancock County Courthouse in July 2014.
“The purchases are consistent with someone who was setting up or outfitting a home office,” Kerns wrote in the affidavit. “Since Cunningham’s termination she has started a non-profit organization which is operated out of her [now former apartment on Bayside Road].”
The nonprofit organization is not identified by Kerns in the document but, according to information posted on the state’s Bureau of Corporations, Elections and Commissions website, Cunningham filed paperwork with the bureau on Feb. 20, 2013, to establish the Maine State Science and Engineering Fair. The nonprofit was administratively dissolved in August 2014 after it failed to file an annual report with the state agency, information in the publicly accessible database indicates.
Kerns wrote in the affidavit that, in April 2014, the building where Cunningham was living was listed for sale and more than 30 photos of the inside of her apartment were posted on a real estate agency’s website. In three of those photos, he indicated, he identified seven items that matched descriptions of goods that had been purchased with the lab’s credit card.
Police recovered 48 items, including most of the office equipment and supplies, when they searched Cunningham’s apartment on July 21, 2014, according to court documents.
On Tuesday, Kerns said all of the seized items, including an “L”-shaped sectional couch, still are being held in storage at the Bar Harbor Police Department.
Kerns added that he conducted several interviews with Cunningham during his investigation and that she was cooperative throughout the process. She never told him directly that she was trying to set up a competing science fair, he said, but she did tell others that that was her goal.
“She owned up to [the theft],” he said. “She admitted to using the credit card for personal gain.”
Last Friday, having already pled guilty in February to felony theft, Cunningham appeared before Justice Robert Murray at the courthouse to be sentenced.
Having been convicted of a Class B crime, Cunningham faced a possible sentence of up to 10 years in prison and a fine of $20,000. Cunningham’s attorney and Hancock District Attorney Matthew Foster agreed to a plea deal, however, that will keep Cunningham out of jail as long as she makes regular restitution payments to Jackson Lab.
Murray accepted the agreement, giving Cunningham a fully-suspended three-year sentence and three years of probation. Foster told the judge that Cunningham has no prior offenses and that keeping her out of jail will make it more likely that she will be able to reimburse the lab for the credit card tab.
“With the lack of a criminal history and the severity of the charge, we feel this is an appropriate sentence,” Foster told Murray.
Joyce Peterson, spokeswoman for the lab, released a brief prepared statement Wednesday morning about Cunningham’s case.
“The Jackson Laboratory adheres to the highest standards of ethics and integrity,” Peterson said. “It is saddened the incident occurred and is pleased that justice is being served.”
Peterson declined to provide further comment but, according to court documents, the lab has had a representative attend Cunningham’s recent court appearances and “is in support” of the imposed sentence.
Cunningham, who as of Friday had repaid only $500 of the $20,000 she owes the lab, told the judge she was sorry for what she had done.
“I’d like to apologize for my conduct,” Cunningham said. “It will not be repeated.”
