Teachers unions during the past decade have known their share of scandal. Add the case of Wayne Wedderman Jr. to the list. This Monday, June 29, Wedderman, treasurer of the Barnegat Education Association, pleaded guilty in Ocean County, New Jersey Superior Court to theft from the union. He had been arrested last November for stealing roughly a combined $23,000 from two union accounts in the wake of a county probe begun the previous month. A grand jury in February subsequently indicted Wedderman on two counts of theft and one count of computer theft. Sentencing is scheduled for September.
Prosecutors had alleged that Wedderman, 42, a resident of Lacey Township, N.J., and athletic director at Barnegat High School, wrote unauthorized checks to himself and family members from an account of the Barnegat Education Association, an affiliate of the New Jersey Education Association, in turn an affiliate of the National Education Association. In addition, he opened an unauthorized debit card account with which he made purchases and ATM withdrawals. A spokesperson for the Ocean County Superior Court yesterday informed NLPC of the guilty plea.