Ex- Phila. Home and School prez just escapes jail

Greg Wade had 60 days to get a job or go to prison for embezzling almost $138,000 in scholarship money from the Philadelphia Home and School Council.

The judge's deadline was Thursday, and Wade, the council's disgraced former president, came before Common Pleas Court Judge Joan A. Brown with a job.

Barely.

Wade, 55, told Brown that he is working for $7.35 an hour in maintenance at a South Philadelphia supermarket. He began last week. He worked eight hours.

Brown, who was talking about a full-time job, gave Wade another 60 days, ordering him to return to court on May 12 - or go to jail.

According to Assistant District Attorney Nicholas Liermann, Wade must be working full time and begin paying $200 monthly restitution to the council beginning April 1.

Wade, of Northeast Philadelphia, was elected president of the parents group in 2006 and reelected to the volunteer post two years later. He was arrested in November 2008, and in May 2009 admitted forging 145 checks for personal expenses, including a 2009 Dodge Journey SUV.

In a sentence that infuriated the prosecutor - who sought two to four years in prison - and council officials, then-Common Pleas Court Judge Joyce O. Eubanks sentenced Wade to 11 1/2 to 23 months of house arrest and 54 months of probation, conditioned on reimbursing the council for most of the missing money.

But in January, Wade was back in court before Brown after Liermann alleged that in 16 months Wade had paid a total of $155 toward restitution of $118,367.

Wade, who had not worked full time for several years, told Brown he looked for work but employers said no when they found out he was a convicted embezzler.