Head of Wildlife Sanctuary Strikes Plea Deal

Woman Was Accused of Diverting Funds

A Silver Spring woman has pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor offense to resolve allegations that, as head of an environmental organization, she misappropriated more than $100,000 designated for wetlands restoration, the Maryland attorney general's office announced yesterday.

Dianne Pearce, 53, who operates Chesapeake Wildlife Sanctuary, admitted in Worcester County Circuit Court that she violated the state's charitable organization law. Judge Thomas Groton III sentenced her Aug. 14 to one year in jail, a term he suspended, and five years of probation, and he ordered her to pay $116,000 in restitution. Pearce received credit for 14 days she spent in jail before the plea agreement was reached.

Chesapeake Wildlife Sanctuary was to carry out the wetland restoration project on a 90-acre parcel near the town of Showell on the Eastern Shore. Perdue Farms provided the property and subsidized the project with $150,000 under an agreement with state environmental regulators to settle a water pollution enforcement case.

The attorney general's environmental crimes unit found that work was never performed on the project and that Pearce had spent or transferred the entire $150,00 from the sanctuary's land trust bank account.

Pearce's attorney, Anne E. Benaroyo, said yesterday that her client denies misappropriating funds. She said the organization was overloaded with work and legal disputes when it got the project. "The bottom line is they were overburdened, understaffed and had gotten in over their heads," Benaroyo said.

Pearce pleaded guilty to a record-keeping violation for not filing annual reports required of charitable organizations. As part of the agreement, the state dropped a charge of fraudulent misappropriation.

The Maryland Coastal Bays Program has agreed to complete the restoration project, Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler's office said.