Message to Local Coordinators:

Judge sends woman in foreign-exchange student case to prison BY JOE MCDONALD 

Published: May 5, 2010

EDNA BURGETTE Fired, facing charges

A Scranton woman was sentenced to three months in Lackawanna County Prison on Tuesday for recklessly endangering foreign-exchange students she placed in squalid living conditions while collecting fees for setting up host families.
 

"I tried my best," Edna Burgette, 70, said before she was sentenced by Judge Michael J. Barrasse. "I couldn't keep up."
 

She said her advancing age and declining health worked against her. "I think the job got the best of her," said her attorney, Christopher Osborne. "it was an unfortunate situation she got herself into."
 

Besides the county prison time, Judge Barrasse ordered Ms. Burgette to serve 33 months on probation. Citing her history of heart problems, Mr. Osborne asked Judge Barrasse to sentence her to house arrest. Mr. Osborne also noted Ms. Burgette is awaiting sentencing in federal court on one count of fraud in connection with the foreign-exchange students investigation. Sentencing is set for May 27 before U.S. District Judge A. Richard Caputo. Ms. Burgette faces up to six months in prison, Mr. Osborne said.
 

In rejecting the request for house arrest, Judge Barrasse said the "children were endangered over a long period of time in horrendous conditions." The judge also questioned why the Aspect Foundation, the outfit that paid Ms. Burgette, had not been charged. First Assistant District Attorney Gene Talerico, the prosecutor on the case, said that part of the investigation had been referred to the U.S. Office of Inspector General.
 

In the federal court case, Ms. Burgette admitted to collecting about $2,900 for five student placements based on fraudulent paperwork in which she lied about host families. Investigators said Mrs. Burgette placed students in homes without completing background checks, then moved students from home to home,
 

As a coordinator for the Aspect Foundation, Ms. Burgette received $400 for each foreign-exchange student she placed and a $20 monthly payment for supervision. State and federal regulations required her to file paperwork with Aspect, based in San Francisco, that showed she screened potential host families and updated the progress of the students.
 

The federal probe started after about a dozen students said they were neglected after being placed in Scranton-area homes during the 2008-09 school year.
 

The students told investigators they lived in filthy homes, some of which were later condemned. Several said they were living with an ex-convict, and at least one student required medical attention for lack of adequate nutrition. All said Ms. Burgette, now the former area coordinator for San Francisco-based Aspect Foundation, ignored their complaints, even though she was paid by Aspect to place the students and check up on them.
 

As he headed home after watching the sentencing, the Rev. Elmer Smith said he did not believe Ms. Burgette had done anything wrong.

"I think it was a mountain made out of a molehill," the Rev. Smith said. "She took them (the children) on vacation, even to church."

Contact the writer: jmcdonald@timesshamrock.com