James Beard president sentenced for swiping $1 million from charity

James Beard president sentenced for swiping $1 million from charity: "James Beard president sentenced for swiping $1 million from charity
Mike Weiss, Chronicle Staff Writer
Tuesday, June 14, 2005

The former president of the James Beard Foundation was sentenced to one to three years in prison Monday in New York after he pleaded guilty to stealing more than a million dollars from the charitable organization he led for nine years.
Leonard Pickell, 50, acknowledged he had stolen $1,106,099 by writing foundation checks for such personal expenses as groceries, his daughter's sweet 16 party, limousines, renovating his home in Howell Township, N.J., and a BMW"