The U.S. Courthouse in Jacksonville
Published on October 9, 2025 at 5:44 pm
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Teresa Brady, former president of the Duval teachers union, pleaded guilty Thursday to four charges related to wire fraud, mail fraud and money laundering.
Federal prosecutors say Brady, 70, and former Vice President Ruby George, 82, each stole more than $1.2 million from Duval Teachers United over nine years by cashing in fraudulent leave time. Both initially pleaded not guilty, and George changed her plea in August.
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In a statement released by a spokesperson after the hearing, Brady said: “I accept full responsibility for my actions and their consequences. I am truly sorry for my wrongdoing and the harm I caused to Duval Teachers United (DTU) and its members. Understanding the seriousness of my offenses, I accept the outcome with humility and sincere remorse while deeply regretting breaching the trust placed in me by DTU, my community and my family.”
At Thursday’s hearing, which lasted about an hour, Brady sat flanked by her defense team from the Bedell Firm as she answered a battery of questions from Magistrate Judge Samuel Horovitz about her understanding of the consequences of her plea and potential penalties.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Kelly Milliron then read from the plea agreement the most detailed description to date of the scheme Brady and George operated.
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“Ms. Brady, is that what you did?” the judge asked after Milliron was finished.
“Yes, sir,” she said.
Lying to the union
According to the agreement, Brady and George collaborated “without any spoken agreement” between 2013 and 2022 and signed checks paying each other for “unaccrued and unearned leave, bonuses, and reimbursements.” They also lied to the DTU auditor and filed false reports to a state oversight entity.
The document says the conspiracy began in the early 2000s, when both Brady and George began selling back legitimately accrued leave hours to DTU. Brady had accrued “well over 5,000 hours” during her time as a Duval Schools employee.
In 2008, they each sold back more than 900 hours of leave time. Eventually, they cashed in leave beyond the hours they had earned, but because they worked together in the scheme, they avoided detection.
Additionally, they signed checks for each other paying out bonuses — in one case, they awarded each other $50,000.
“No other person signed the checks, and no Board Member ever authorized or knew about the purported bonuses Brady and George caused to be paid to each other,” the plea agreement says.
They sometimes requested specific amounts for payments.
“For example, at several times during the conspiracy Brady provided papers to George that contained a specific dollar amount which was consistent with Brady requesting an improper bonus or reimbursement or a check or payment for accrued leave at Brady’s request. George authorized a payment to Brady and the amount requested for a commensurate amount,” according to the plea agreement.
A date for Brady’s and George’s sentencing hasn’t been set.
DTU is Duval County’s main teachers’ union. It represents about 6,500 of Duval Schools’ teachers — or about 80% of the district’s eligible employees, according to the federal indictment.
