A man convicted of embezzling more than $500,000 from Saint Louis University has reportedly been hired by the city of St. Louis. Expose From KMOV-TV.
Breton Delaria is Awarded In 2019, he received the Young Alumni Award from the university’s public affairs office for overseeing the distribution of $50,000 in scholarships to high school students for college credits. He was fired from his position the following June.
“It makes sense that someone with a criminal history would be part of a group of people with high street credibility.”
2022, Delaria Pleaded DeLaria was convicted of five felony wire fraud charges and pleaded guilty to stealing $518,000 from the university by submitting false invoices and having the money wired to a PayPal account he set up, some of which he used to build a new pool at his Benton Park West home.
“Saint Louis University is outraged by the conduct Breton-Delaria has admitted to in federal court,” university officials said at the time. “The university does not tolerate theft or other illegal activity by anyone in our community.”
DeLaria agreed to give up his home and pay back the money, and was sentenced to nearly two years in prison, with a deadline for release in September 2023.
Despite his fraud conviction, DeLaria was hired as a public information officer for the Office of Violence Prevention, run by the St. Louis Department of Public Safety.
KMOV interviewed Benjamin Singer of “Show Me Integrity.” group The head of the government transparency group said DeLaria’s conviction could give him “credibility” in his new position.
“It makes sense that someone with a criminal history who is trying to recover and become an upstanding member of society would be part of that group of people who have high street credibility,” Singer told KMOV.
But he expressed concern about whether city officials were making sure DeLaria didn’t have access to taxpayer funds in his new job. KMOV reported that city officials told reporters that DeLaria doesn’t handle funds, but that officials declined an interview request for the story.
DeLaria’s annual salary is about $60,000 and as a condition of his probation he is not allowed to work in a job that involves handling money.
KMOV said both the city and DeLaria declined to answer inquiries about the qualifications that led to his new employment.
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