[CBFF] CT: Azumah taken to the cleaners

[Victor Waldron]

(Amazing that she actually deposited the money into savings and CD
accounts instead of just going on a huge shopping spree.)

Azumah taken to the cleaners
Woman charged with forging $251,000 in former Bear's checks
By Charles Sheehan
Tribune staff reporter

May 13, 2006, 11:37 PM CDT

A cleaning woman stole more than $250,000 from former Bears defensive
back Jerry Azumah, forging his signature on personal checks taken from
his downtown condominium and depositing most of them in her own bank
account, prosecutors said Saturday.

Wanda Zielinski, 41, of Chicago, was charged with 20 felony counts of
forgery and theft and was ordered held on $200,000 bond Saturday.

Zielinski was hired to clean Azumah's downtown condominium in March
2005. Over the next year, she forged and deposited 19 checks into her
personal bank account worth more than $251,000, according to court
documents.

Azumah may be able to recover a good chunk of the funds allegedly
stolen from his account, prosecutors said, because some of the money
was invested in certificates of deposit or placed into savings.

"A total of $173,000 of that amount is frozen in CD and savings
accounts in the defendant's name, but it's the victim's money,"
Assistant State's Atty. Molly Riordan said. "The remainder of the
amount has been spent."

The first forged check, dated April 31, 2005, for $2,900, was the
smallest by far, according to court documents. In the ensuing months,
Zielinski made out 12 checks for $17,000 each, according to court
documents.

The last check allegedly forged by Zielinski for the amount of $17,000
was dated March 26 this year, three days after Azumah, 29, said he
would be forced to retire because of an arthritic hip condition.

Efforts to reach Azumah and Zielinski were unsuccessful. Azumah's
agent, Jonathan Feinberg, would not comment.

Riordan said Zielinski would deposit the forged checks into her
personal checking account, and all of the deposits were made in
person. The checks were deposited at Mid-America Bank, according to
court records.

Zielinski does have a criminal record.

In 2001, she was convicted of felony retail theft and sentenced to two
years in prison, according to Illinois Department of Corrections
records.

Zielinski was arrested Thursday where she lives in the 6100 block of
West Higgins. She was employed as a house cleaner at Azumah's
condominium as recently as this month, according to court records.

Azumah was a fifth-round pick in the 1999 draft and spent his entire
seven-year career with the Bears. He was a standout tailback in
college at the University of New Hampshire, where he was a Walter
Payton Award recipient.

He became a starter as a defensive back in the NFL and played in the
2003 Pro Bowl as a kickoff-return specialist after averaging 29 yards
per return and scoring two touchdowns.

Azumah played in 105 games in which he had 384 tackles, 10
interceptions and 6½ sacks. His final season also was the last year of
a five-year contract extension he signed in 2001 worth $12.5 million.