The former president of the Retreat Sportsman’s Club faces a felony theft charge after admitting to Vernon County Sheriff’s Department investigators that he embezzled more than $4,000.
Bryce K. Nelson, 50, of De Soto was bound over Dec. 30 for trial in Vernon County Circuit Court on a Class I felony charge of theft in a business setting.
According to a criminal complaint filed Dec. 16, a sheriff’s department investigation was conducted with the cooperation of the trustees of the Retreat Sportsman’s Club starting in late September 2013. Trustees told Sheriff John Spears and Investigator Matthew Sutton they believed Nelson, who had been president of the club since 2003, had been using a club debit card to make personal purchases.
Club trustees said deposits had not been made from profits earned at the club’s trap shooting events. Food and beer are served at these events, which usually led to $1,000 deposits in the club’s accounts. No deposits were made from May to August 2013.
Nelson told Sutton in October that beginning in late 2011 he used the club’s debit card to make personal purchases and that he took money from the club that was raised at its trap shooting events, according to the criminal complaint.
Nelson, in a statement to Sutton, said the number he had come up with “in his head” to make restitution was $7,000.
Sutton used a spreadsheet he had been given by the club, added Nelson’s admissions about taking cash and figured the total amount taken was $4,336.56.
Nelson made his initial appearance Dec. 30, waived a preliminary hearing in the case and was bound over for trial. Nelson will be able to enter a plea at his arraignment at 10:30 a.m. Jan. 27.
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