The former president of a Virginia teachers union has been arrested and charged with embezzling hundreds of thousands of dollars from the organization, according to police.

Ingrid Gant, former president of the Arlington Education Association (AEA), was arrested after police conducted a six-month audit that showed she embezzled $410,782.10 from the union, according to a Fairfax County Police Department news release.

Gant was charged with four counts of embezzlement in which she allegedly used debit cards for unauthorized purchases and gave herself multiple bonuses.

An internal audit was ordered after AEA board members became concerned about their leader’s suspicious behavior. Gant allegedly did not provide financial reports to the board and did not file tax returns, police said.

According to the Fairfax County Police Department, Ingrid Gant, 54, of Prince William County, became president of the Arlington Education Association (AEA) in 2016 and was fired in 2022.
(Fox 5)

She was fired in March 2022, and her removal led board members to hire an outside group, Caliber CPA Group, to conduct an internal audit that uncovered Grant’s misuse of taxpayer money.

After six months of reviewing his activity, investigators found that Gant gifted himself $350,000 in bonuses and payouts from 2020 to 2022. He also cashed out approximately $70,000 worth of business debit cards for personal items like gas, groceries and even Amazon purchases.

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Capt. Ryan Lazisky of the Fairfax County Police Department told Fox 5 that cases of embezzlement in teachers unions are more common than people realize.

«It’s unfortunate that people take advantage of it,» Captain Lazisky told FOX 5. «That association was created and built to protect teachers, so it’s sad to see teachers taken advantage of. This money is for them.» .

The AEA represents more than 15,000 Arlington public school teachers.

The AEA is the local union of educators for the Arlington Public Schools.

The AEA is the local union of educators for the Arlington Public Schools.
(Arlington Police Department)

«AEA is pursuing all legal channels to recover lost funds and hold those responsible accountable. Under his new leadership, AEA has already implemented stricter financial controls and transparent reporting practices to ensure a strong operation.» wrote the new president in a statement to Fox 5.

Gant was arrested at her Prince William County home Monday night but was released on unsecured bond.

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During her tenure as president of the teachers’ union, Gant sparked backlash for her COVID-19 policies.

A home school took to Twitter to expose the union after it sent a letter riddled with grammatical and typographical errors.

Ellen Gallery, a homeschooling mother of three who lives in the area, claimed that she and her children had read the letter, correcting errors. The mother posted a photo of the letter with extensive corrections, blaming AEA for omitting words, adding unnecessary commas, confusing subject-verb agreement and more.

A couple of offensive sentences read: “Fire departments in our region are also exemplifying domino outbreaks. APS employees are no different or ahead of this trend, yet leadership prepares to send educators to situations that will make them sick. In the first sentence, Gant used «are» when he clearly meant to write «our.» Gallery and her children suggested «neither different nor superior» for the second sentence.

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«Being able to write a clear and persuasive letter is a fundamental skill that all students must master before high school,» Gallery told Fox News Digital. «The quality of this writing was so terrible that it distracts from the writer’s message.»

The Virginia Education Association sent Fox News Digital a statement from Gant explaining the errors and sharing that the district sent the draft instead of the final letter.