A Purcellville, Virginia, couple has been sentenced to prison after having admitted to embezzling nearly a quarter-million dollars from a service sorority.
Jeanine Henderson Arnett, 44, and her husband, Diallo Arnett, 47, were sentenced Tuesday after having pleaded guilty to bank fraud in April. She was sentenced to 16 months; he was sentenced to a year and a day. They also have to pay restitution.
Henderson Arnett was the executive director of the Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, a more than century-old service sorority that partners with organizations to address food insecurity, domestic violence, educational needs and more. Delta Sigma Theta terminated her in 2019, and found out about the embezzlement a month later.
Court documents say she used Delta Sigma Theta money for personal items and expenses between 2017 and 2019, as well as transferring more than $14,000 to their own account.
“While Delta Sigma Theta and its members were committed to a mission of public service, the defendants were committed to a mission of personal benefit, stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars to use for their own pleasure,” acting U.S. Attorney Channing Phillips said when the two pleaded guilty in April.
