Teresa Brady and her husband, Mark, follow one of her lawyers out of the courthouse after she was sentenced to 27 months in prison on February 9, 2026. | Megan Mallicoat, Jacksonville Today
Published on February 9, 2026 at 10:15 pm
Free local news and info, in your inbox at 6 a.m. M-F. Sign up for the Jacksonville Today newsletter.
The two former Duval County teachers’ union officers who together embezzled more than $2.5 million were sentenced Monday to prison.
Teresa “Terrie” Brady, once the president of Duval Teachers United, was sentenced to 27 months. Former Vice President Ruby George was sentenced to 12 months and one day in prison and six months of house arrest. Both terms are about 25% shorter than the minimum recommended under sentencing guidelines for the crime they committed.
Jacksonville Today thanks our sponsors. Become one.
The judge also ordered them to pay a total $2.6 million, though there is no guarantee it will be returned to the union.
Judge Marcia Morales Howard said the “downward variance” for both sentences was “largely based on their good works.” George, 82, also has significant health issues that Howard said factored into her decision.
The FBI raided the DTU headquarters in September 2023. Federal prosecutors say Brady and George stole more than $2.5 million from the union through a scheme that involved cashing in unearned leave time. George, who pleaded guilty last August, cooperated with the FBI’s investigation. Brady pleaded guilty in October.
Jacksonville Today thanks our sponsors. Become one.
“Mrs. George cooperated, pure and simple,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Coolican said Monday during their sentencing hearing at the federal courthouse in Jacksonville. “She did so against a longtime colleague. That’s not a small thing.”
Brady and George both gave emotional statements of remorse and asked Howard for leniency.
“So what can I do?” Brady, 70, said through tears. “I don’t know. I brought this on myself. And there are so many points at which I wish I had acted differently. I can’t change any of them. I feel like at the end of my life, I have thrown everything away. I promise that I will do everything possible to make up for this, but all I can do today is just ask for mercy.”
George sat in a wheelchair throughout the hearing.
“I don’t know how I got so far off track. I don’t know. It boggles my mind…How did I get here? I don’t know how I gave up the right for the wrong. I’m in no way trying to justify my actions. I’m just trying to explain,” George said. “It just became easier to go along to get along. I know I must atone for all I’ve done, but I ask the court for mercy and compassion.”
Current DTU President Tammie Brooks-Evans and Vice President Jessica Reyst both spoke about the impact the crimes had on the union’s operations and reputation. Reyst said the organization’s San Marco headquarters was in a state of disrepair — with a rat problem, mold, and in need of a new roof — while Brady and George were overpaying themselves.
‘Nothing simple about this case’
While waiting for the hearing to start, Brady mingled with dozens of supporters who filled the hallways of the 10th floor of the Bryan Simpson U.S. Courthouse in Jacksonville.
A few minutes before 1:30, attendees streamed into the courtroom that quickly filled to overflowing. Eventually, the hearing had to be moved to a larger courtroom usually saved for naturalization ceremonies. Judge Howard listened to almost two hours of testimony before the court took a recess.
“I’ll ask you to be patient. One of the things about sentencing in federal court is that once I say the sentence out loud, there’s no taking it back,” Howard said before the recess. “I need to be certain, and I want to thoughtfully consider all of the matters that have been presented. There’s nothing simple about this case.”
After about 30 minutes of recess, Howard, a Jacksonville native and George W. Bush-appointee to the federal court, spent time explaining her thought process before announcing the defendants’ sentences.
She said she wondered how the money could have been spent if it hadn’t been stolen.
“I was very struck by the information about the building,” Howard said, going on to note that George told the FBI Brady had used some of the money stolen from DTU to “fix her own roof and remodel her own kitchen.”
The judge said she would recommend Brady and George be assigned to a low-security federal prison camp near Jacksonville. According to Howard, facilities in Marianna or Ocala are most likely. She ordered both women to report to their assigned prisons no later than 2 p.m. on April 16.
“Here’s the thing,” Howard said. “Just as we tell our children that two wrongs don’t make a right, a lifetime and service and commitment cannot excuse or erase a decade of brazen, willful theft. Theft from the very people that Mrs. Brady and Mrs. George were supposed to be serving.”
