Ex-United Way CEO Gets Jail Sentence

A federal judge has ordered Oral Suer, former chief executive of the United Way of the National Capital Area, in Washington, to serve 27 months in jail — the maximum sentence — for his role in a financial scandal that rocked the charity.

In March, Mr. Suer pleaded guilty to two felony charges that he stole approximately $500,000 from the organization during his 27-year tenure. He admitted to receiving excessive pension payments, pocketing unreimbursed cash advances, and charging the organization for fraudulent business expenses, including bowling equipment and visits to his children at college.

At a hearing in Alexandria, Va., U.S. District Judge Gerald Bruce Lee ordered Mr. Suer to pay $497,000 in restitution for the thefts.

After serving his jail sentence, Mr. Suer, 69, could be deported to his native Turkey because he is not a U.S. citizen and noncitizens found guilty of crimes are automatically deported.

The judge’s ruling disturbed officials at the United Way of the National Capital Area, who contend that the money Mr. Suer was ordered to return represents far less than what he stole from the organization, according to Charles W. Anderson, chief executive.

Mr. Anderson cited an audit, released in August, that said that Mr. Suer, who served as chief executive from 1974 to 2002, received $2.4-million more than his approved compensation and apparently paid back less than half that sum.

Mr. Suer still faces a civil lawsuit filed by the United Way of the National Capital Area that seeks the repayment of $230,000 in excessive pension payments he allegedly stole from the group. A hearing on the lawsuit is scheduled for June 9. Mr. Suer’s lawyer, Graeme W. Bush, did not respond to a Chronicle request for comment on the legal actions involving his client.

The United Way of the National Capital Area also intends to seek the repayment of another $1.5-million that Mr. Suer allegedly stole from the organization. A lawsuit the group filed last year seeking damages in that amount was dropped earlier this year after Mr. Suer refused to answer questions about his actions as head of the organization.