Former Campaign Treasurer Charged With Larceny of Campaign Funds

A former campaign treasurer was arrested today and charged with embezzling more than $4,000 in campaign funds.

Tanzania Cooper, 43 of Bloomfield, is charged with Larceny 1st and Larceny 6th. The maximum sentence she faces is 20 years in prison.

According to the arrest warrant, Cooper is charged with making 21 unauthorized withdrawals between July 2010 and July 2012 from the re-election campaign account of State Representative Douglas McGrory.

An audit of the campaign’s finances conducted by the State Elections Enforcement Commission in the Office of Governmental Accountability brought the unauthorized withdrawals to light.

Cooper was unable to provide a legitimate reason for withdrawing the money, according to the warrant.

She is accused of embezzling approximately $3,854 from the public funds provided to the campaign under the state’s Citizens Election Fund campaign finance grant program.

Another $300 was taken from private donations to the campaign.

According to the warrant, Cooper told investigators that McGrory had no knowledge of the embezzlement and was not involved.

Cooper was arrested Monday morning. She was released on bond and is set to be arraigned in Hartford Superior Court on Nov. 1.

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