A former director of the Alaska Eskimo Whaling Commission is scheduled for arraignment on fraud and theft charges. Teresa Judkins of Barrow, age 51, is accused of stealing more than $100,000 from the organization during a two-year period.
A federal grand jury indicted Judkins on charges of theft and misapplication of funds from an organization receiving federal grant money.
Judkins is accused of fraudulently using commission funds to buy herself a snowmobile, take payroll advances she never repaid and paying for travel for herself and relatives unrelated to her duties.
The Eskimo Whaling Commission, which gets much of its funding from the U.S. Department of Commerce, is meant to protect Eskimo subsistence hunting of bowhead whales.
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