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UPDATE: White House Reacts to Guest's Criminal Past

President Barack Obama posed with a Charlottesville resident at a White House event on July 19. What we didn't know - and what the White House may not have known - is that court records show she's been found guilty of two crimes.

Posted: 5:29 PM Jul 28, 2010
Reporter: Jessica Jaglois

White House Reacts to Guest's Criminal Past Woman Convicted of Drug Fraud Joins Obama at the Podium

(CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA) -- In his daily press briefing Thursday afternoon, Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said the White House would have never invited Leslie Macko to pose with President Obama had they known about her criminal past. Macko, a Charlottesville resident, stood next to President Obama as his example of the need to extend jobless benefits.

"We need to extend unemployment compensation benefits for women like Leslie Macko, who lost her job at a fitness center last year, and has been looking for work ever since. Because she's eligible for only a few more weeks of unemployment, she's doing what she never thought she'd have to do. Not at this point, anyway. She's turning to her father for financial support," Obama said in his speech.

Macko was once employed at ACAC Fitness and Wellness Center in the Albemarle Square Shopping Center. However, in April 2009, a month after being found guilty of prescription drug fraud, she lost her job as an aesthetician in the spa at ACAC.

CBS19 learned Thursday that Macko, who appeared in the Rose Garden with President Barack Obama on July 19, has had more than one run-in with the law. In June of 2007, Macko was charged with grand larceny. The charge was reduced in court to petit larceny, and she was sentenced to two years probation.

ACAC CEO Greg Wells tells the Newsplex that Macko was not terminated nor discharged because of any illegal activity, but Wells would not comment on the condition of her termination.