Audit: $100K+ vanished from fund meant for Sandy Hook responders, teachers

According to a new audit, more than $100,000 vanished from a fund meant for teachers and responders to the Sandy Hook school shooting in 2012.

News 12 Staff

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Dec 5, 2019, 10:47 PM

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Updated 1,611 days ago

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According to a new audit, more than $100,000 vanished from a fund meant for teachers and responders to the Sandy Hook school shooting in 2012.

The money has since been restored, but there are major questions as to how and why it disappeared in the first place.

The attack that killed 20 children and six educators left emotional and financial scars, which prompted state lawmakers to set up a Workers’ Assistance Program to help them.

A nonprofit called the United Labor Agency manages the fund. A state audit found that $103,000 is unaccounted for.

Auditors say "it appears that as a result of financial difficulties, ULA may have used the money for other purposes."

MORE: Read the Audit

ULA is an arm of the AFL-CIO labor union, and has since replenished the fund. But ULA can't say why the money was mixed in with other accounts.

"The board of the ULA is looking into retaining an outside independent investigator to conduct a full and objective investigation into how the money from the fund was used," says Eric Chester, ULA’s spokesman.

Lawmakers had harsh words for the agency.

"It's ghastly to think about what was done and whom this money was taken from," says state Rep. Mitch Bolinsky, a Republican representing Newtown.

The state attorney general is also taking some heat too. He says he had no idea money was missing until Wednesday when the audit was unveiled.