|
COHOES---A former special education teacher employed by the Cohoes City School District is expected to surrender to police as the result of a warrant being issued for her arrest for allegedly defrauding the district out of thousands of dollars by falsely claiming that she had cancer.
Candice Lambert, 41, who now lives in New Hampshire, is expected to be arraigned next week on two counts of grand larceny and one count of scheming to defraud, all felonies.
She has had her teaching certification revoked by the State of New Hampshire and has reportedly admitted to lying about the status of her teaching credentials. She taught at Capt. Samuel Douglass Academy in Brookline, NH during the 2004-05 school year.
She had been hired last summer as a special education teacher in the Bedford, NH School District and had been teaching at an elementary school there until her certification was withdrawn on Feb. 28.
She allegedly claimed to have cancer while working in the Cohoes school district at the Harmony Hills Elementary School for about eight years. She resigned three years ago, attempting to retire on disability and allegedly collected thousands of dollars in health insurance benefits after leaving the school district.
Lambert allegedly conducted the same scam in the New Hampshire schools and claimed to be on the national donor list for a kidney transplant. However, Cohoes police say that she has admitted that she never had cancer and that she has never been on any donor list.
She wore a headscarf while teaching last year because she said she had lost hair from chemotherapy and while teaching in Cohoes, appeared in school bald.
She had been named as a “Schoolhouse Hero” by the Nashua Telegraph newspaper last summer.
She pleaded guilty in Concord District Court on March 28 to one count of false swearing or lying under oath. She was fined $1,000 but the fine will be suspended if she maintains good behavior for two years. Her teaching certificate was revoked.
Reports indicate that even after the public became aware of her arrest and false cancer claim, parents of the child she taught praised her for her teaching ability. Bedford School officials also lauded her and said she was an excellent teacher. 4-22-06
© 2006 North
Country Gazette
|
