A former Winslow woman pleaded guilty Tuesday to embezzling thousands of dollars from a school sports team and a sports boosters’ club, while also stealing state welfare benefits.
Wendi R. Willette, also known as Wendi Thompson, 41, now of Whitefield, N.H., stood at a podium with her hands clasped behind her back and responded “guilty” when Justice Andrew Horton asked for her pleas in Kennebec County Superior Court in Augusta.
Kennebec County District Attorney Maeghan Maloney said the people involved with the sports teams told her they placed a lot of trust in Willette and felt betrayed.
“The money was to be used for the kids,” Maloney said. “Parents came together to raise money for the kids so they could have a wrestling team and a field hockey team. What shocked them the most was that she was willing to take the money from the kids.”
Under a proposed sentence agreed to by the prosecutors and defense attorney, Willette faces up to four years in prison with all but 12 to 18 months suspended and three years of probation. She remains free pending sentencing, which has been scheduled for June 22.
Her attorney, Randy Robinson, had requested a sentencing date in late June or early July because “she home-schools one of her children, and she also has some health issues she needs to address before she starts incarceration.”
Robinson told the judge that while his client disputed some of the claims made by the state, “she does not deny that there was wrongdoing,” and he believed she would likely be convicted.
Under a plea deal, Willette also will have to pay restitution of more than $60,000 to the state and $8,425 to the Winslow Wrestling Sports Boosters Club, where she was the treasurer, as well as $300 for the China Girls’ Field Hockey Team, where she was a coach.
Maloney, who pursued the thefts from the school club and team, and Assistant Attorney General Darcy Mitchell, who prosecuted Willette on the state welfare theft and forgery charges, both said Robinson could argue for less than the 18 months of jail time if all the restitution is paid before Willette starts her prison term.
After the hearing Maloney said that Willette had made a $5,000 restitution payment on Feb. 3 and that all that money will be turned over shortly to the wrestling boosters. After the hearing, Robinson said Willette was able to repay the $5,000 because she sold some items and because she saved some money by taking in a roommate.
Maloney also said that under an agreement, Willette is to pay $300 to the field hockey team by March 7.
Both Maloney and Robinson said later that Willette indicated she had a written apology, but that was not brought up during the hearing Tuesday.
Robinson told the judge that Willette’s partner expects a settlement in a lawsuit he is pursuing. If that comes through as anticipated, Robinson said the restitution would be paid in full.
Maloney said the people involved with the sports teams were contacted about Tuesday’s plea and initially did not wish to be at the hearing although one representative was there.
“I did meet personally with the victims at the fire station in Winslow,” Maloney told Horton. “I was able to get a good sense of the harm they’ve been through.”
Maloney said the victims agreed with the proposed sentence because Willette is taking responsibility for the crimes, they need the money repaid to continue the programs and she will serve jail time.
Willette had previously been indicted on three counts of theft by deception, one count of aggravated forgery and five counts of unsworn falsification in connection with the state fraud. She was also previously indicted on three charges of theft — stealing more than $10,000 from the Winslow Wrestling Booster Club between Sept. 1, 2010, and July 31, 2013, and of stealing $300 from the China Girls Field Hockey Team Sept. 1-17, 2013.
On Tuesday, one count of theft by deception was dismissed.
According to the indictments, Willette received money from food stamps and from MaineCare and the State Supplement Program between Dec. 1, 2007, and Dec. 31, 2013. In her applications, she indicated she and her two sons were the only occupants of her China Road Home and she had no income other than Social Security disability payments.
The indictment said Willette intentionally failed to disclose that her husband was living at the home and contributing financially to the household. It also said she filed a false 2011 property tax bill with the state on March 6, 2012.
In court on Tuesday, Mitchell said some of the fraud was uncovered after Willette Thompson’s then-husband, Paul Willette, learned that she was receiving state benefits.
Mitchell said the husband told officials in September 2013 that he had been living with the family in the China Road home, was steadily employed as a truck driver for a food distribution firm, that he never made less than $55,000 a year and that the money went into a joint account.
Mitchell said records show that in June 2007 the couple purchased property on China Road, built a $70,000 mobile home and two years later obtained a town permit to install a deck and a pool.
At the same time, Mitchell said, Willette regularly filled out applications for state aid saying that she and her two children lived alone, received no support from her husband and had a zero balance in her bank account.
Willette applied for and received $840 from Maine State Housing’s Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program and at one point sought assistance with paying a 2011 property tax bill which she altered to remove her husband’s name, Mitchell told the judge.
Mitchell said state benefit overpayments to Willette were calculated at $41,989 for Department of Health & Human Services assistance in the form of food stamps and MaineCare, $840 for Maine State Housing and $18,456 in Supplemental Security Income.
Showing posts with label Maine. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Maine. Show all posts
Wednesday, February 18, 2015
Sunday, July 27, 2014
Woman facing embezzlement charges indicted for theft in Maine
A new indictment accuses a former Winslow woman of stealing more than $11,000 in state welfare benefits over a six-year period that includes the time she allegedly embezzled money from a school sports team and a sports boosters’ club.
Wendi R. Willette, also known as Wendi Thompson, 41, now of Whitefield, N.H., was indicted Friday by a grand jury in Kennebec County on three counts of theft by deception, one count of aggravated forgery and five counts of unsworn falsification.
An indictment is not a determination of guilt, but it indicates that there is enough evidence to proceed with formal charges and a trial in Superior Court.
According to the indictment, Willette received more than $10,000 in food stamps and from MaineCare and the State Supplement Program between Dec. 1, 2007, and Dec. 31, 2013. In her applications, she indicated she and her two sons were the only occupants of her China Road home and she had no income other than Social Security disability payments. She also is accused of providing false information to obtain assistance from the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program.
The indictment says Willette intentionally failed to disclose that her husband was living at the home and contributing financially to the household.
It also says she filed a false 2011 property tax bill with the state on March 6, 2012.
Included with the indictment is an application for emergency assistance on March 12, 2013, in which Willette indicates a utility is about to be cut off.
In February, Willette was indicted on three charges of theft, which accuse her of stealing more than $10,000 from the Winslow Wrestling Booster Club between Sept. 1, 2010, and July 31, 2013; and of stealing money from the China girls’ field hockey team from Sept. 1 to 17, 2013. She pleaded not guilty to those charges at her arraignment in Kennebec County Superior Court.
Recently Willette was expected in that same court to accept a plea deal to resolve those charges. However, the hearing was continued. It is likely the new charges will derail that proposed resolution. Willette is represented by attorney Sherry Tash.
According to the district attorney’s office, which is prosecuting those charges, Willette was the club’s treasurer when she stole nearly $20,000 over three years. Willette has also been charged with stealing money from the China girls’ field hockey team, which she helped establish.
Kennebec County District Attorney Maeghan Maloney said previously that restitution was a key element of the deal.
“The agreement is to pay back a big part of the money up front and then to pay the rest over a period of time,” she said in early June. “For me, I wanted to make sure it put a big chunk of the money in their hands from the start so that it won’t affect the ability of the kids to play sports. That was a real focus for me.”
Neither Maloney nor Tash responded to emails or phone messages left on Sunday.
Wendi R. Willette, also known as Wendi Thompson, 41, now of Whitefield, N.H., was indicted Friday by a grand jury in Kennebec County on three counts of theft by deception, one count of aggravated forgery and five counts of unsworn falsification.
An indictment is not a determination of guilt, but it indicates that there is enough evidence to proceed with formal charges and a trial in Superior Court.
According to the indictment, Willette received more than $10,000 in food stamps and from MaineCare and the State Supplement Program between Dec. 1, 2007, and Dec. 31, 2013. In her applications, she indicated she and her two sons were the only occupants of her China Road home and she had no income other than Social Security disability payments. She also is accused of providing false information to obtain assistance from the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program.
The indictment says Willette intentionally failed to disclose that her husband was living at the home and contributing financially to the household.
It also says she filed a false 2011 property tax bill with the state on March 6, 2012.
Included with the indictment is an application for emergency assistance on March 12, 2013, in which Willette indicates a utility is about to be cut off.
In February, Willette was indicted on three charges of theft, which accuse her of stealing more than $10,000 from the Winslow Wrestling Booster Club between Sept. 1, 2010, and July 31, 2013; and of stealing money from the China girls’ field hockey team from Sept. 1 to 17, 2013. She pleaded not guilty to those charges at her arraignment in Kennebec County Superior Court.
Recently Willette was expected in that same court to accept a plea deal to resolve those charges. However, the hearing was continued. It is likely the new charges will derail that proposed resolution. Willette is represented by attorney Sherry Tash.
According to the district attorney’s office, which is prosecuting those charges, Willette was the club’s treasurer when she stole nearly $20,000 over three years. Willette has also been charged with stealing money from the China girls’ field hockey team, which she helped establish.
Kennebec County District Attorney Maeghan Maloney said previously that restitution was a key element of the deal.
“The agreement is to pay back a big part of the money up front and then to pay the rest over a period of time,” she said in early June. “For me, I wanted to make sure it put a big chunk of the money in their hands from the start so that it won’t affect the ability of the kids to play sports. That was a real focus for me.”
Neither Maloney nor Tash responded to emails or phone messages left on Sunday.
Saturday, February 22, 2014
Maine woman indicted on embezzlement charges
Winslow woman has been indicted on charges of bilking two youth sports teams.
Wendi Willette, 41, had pleaded not guilty in November to charges of stealing more than $10,000 from the Winslow High School Wrestling Booster Club over nearly three years starting in 2010 while she served as treasurer.
The indictment filed on Friday also accuses her of embezzling from the China Girls Field Hockey Team in September. Willette said Saturday that she had no comment on the new charge.
Town officials released a statement in November saying Willette was no longer involved with the field hockey program, the Morning Sentinel reported (http://bit.ly/1nC3XE2 ).
The district attorney for Kennebec and Somerset counties had said recently that Willette had not been indicted because prosecutors had been negotiating with her hoping she could pay back what they say was stolen.
Willette was convicted in 2003 and in 2004 of negotiating a worthless instrument, which typically is a crime of passing a bad check.
Wednesday, July 31, 2013
Harpswell, Maine woman charged with embezzling nearly $300,000 in Lewiston, California from youth football league
A woman who police say embezzled at least $80,000 from the Ramada Inn in Lewiston — and who is suspected of embezzling nearly $200,000 from a youth football league and another business in California — was arrested Tuesday afternoon at her Harpswell home.
Carrie Richardson, 37, of Harpswell remained in Cumberland County Jail on Wednesday morning, held on $100,000 bail.
She is charged with Class B felony theft for embezzling $80,000 while working as a bookkeeper at the Ramada Inn between January 2012 and January 2013, when she was fired, Lewiston police Lt. Michael McGonagle said Wednesday.
McGonagle said the theft was discovered during an annual audit and Richardson “was the only one who had control of the money.”
Richardson is also wanted on warrants from Escondido and San Diego County in California after allegedly embezzling in that state, McGonagle said.
UT San Diego reported in March 2012 that Richardson — also known as Carrie Marie Miranda — was suspected of embezzling as much as $100,000 from Escondido Pop Warner Football, for which she served as treasurer for three years, and approximately $45,000 from the North County Yamaha shop in San Marcos, Calif., where Richardson formerly worked.
Detective Jeff Miller of the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department, who investigated the North County Yamaha crime, said Wednesday that Richardson was wanted there on charges of embezzlement and grand theft. But he said the district attorney told him that the county would not extradite Richardson to face charges there due to budget reasons.
Julie Hurkman, co-owner of the store, told the Bangor Daily News on Wednesday that Richardson actually stole at least $75,000 from her, but that at $45,000, “we just stopped counting.”
Hurkman said Richardson worked for her for eight years before the day she overheard Hurkman talking to her credit card company about the missing funds. When Hurkman went downstairs to talk to another manager, she said, Richardson disappeared.
Richardson left the home she was renting from Hurkman within a couple of days, Hurkman said.
“She left all her stuff there,” Hurkman said of Richardson. “I never saw her again.”
Sgt. David Cramer of the Escondido Police Department, which investigated the Escondido Pop Warner Football theft, declined Wednesday to discuss that department’s case against Richardson.
Detectives from Sagadahoc County and Brunswick arrested Richardson about 2:30 p.m. Tuesday at her Harpswell apartment. Detectives first checked at the address the Lewiston Police Department had for Richardson, but found that another family lived there. They then checked the address on her Maine driver’s license and found the home vacant. Finally, they found Richardson at a Harpswell apartment she had moved into two weeks ago, detectives said.
McGonagle said Wednesday that Richardson likely would be transferred to the Androscoggin County Jail to await a court appearance on the charges.
Hurkman, of North County Yamaha in California, said her employees were going to throw a pizza party Wednesday to celebrate Richardson’s arrest.
“I can’t tell you how good this makes me feel,” she said. “We’ve just been sitting here waiting for something to happen.”
Carrie Richardson, 37, of Harpswell remained in Cumberland County Jail on Wednesday morning, held on $100,000 bail.
She is charged with Class B felony theft for embezzling $80,000 while working as a bookkeeper at the Ramada Inn between January 2012 and January 2013, when she was fired, Lewiston police Lt. Michael McGonagle said Wednesday.
McGonagle said the theft was discovered during an annual audit and Richardson “was the only one who had control of the money.”
Richardson is also wanted on warrants from Escondido and San Diego County in California after allegedly embezzling in that state, McGonagle said.
UT San Diego reported in March 2012 that Richardson — also known as Carrie Marie Miranda — was suspected of embezzling as much as $100,000 from Escondido Pop Warner Football, for which she served as treasurer for three years, and approximately $45,000 from the North County Yamaha shop in San Marcos, Calif., where Richardson formerly worked.
Detective Jeff Miller of the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department, who investigated the North County Yamaha crime, said Wednesday that Richardson was wanted there on charges of embezzlement and grand theft. But he said the district attorney told him that the county would not extradite Richardson to face charges there due to budget reasons.
Julie Hurkman, co-owner of the store, told the Bangor Daily News on Wednesday that Richardson actually stole at least $75,000 from her, but that at $45,000, “we just stopped counting.”
Hurkman said Richardson worked for her for eight years before the day she overheard Hurkman talking to her credit card company about the missing funds. When Hurkman went downstairs to talk to another manager, she said, Richardson disappeared.
Richardson left the home she was renting from Hurkman within a couple of days, Hurkman said.
“She left all her stuff there,” Hurkman said of Richardson. “I never saw her again.”
Sgt. David Cramer of the Escondido Police Department, which investigated the Escondido Pop Warner Football theft, declined Wednesday to discuss that department’s case against Richardson.
Detectives from Sagadahoc County and Brunswick arrested Richardson about 2:30 p.m. Tuesday at her Harpswell apartment. Detectives first checked at the address the Lewiston Police Department had for Richardson, but found that another family lived there. They then checked the address on her Maine driver’s license and found the home vacant. Finally, they found Richardson at a Harpswell apartment she had moved into two weeks ago, detectives said.
McGonagle said Wednesday that Richardson likely would be transferred to the Androscoggin County Jail to await a court appearance on the charges.
Hurkman, of North County Yamaha in California, said her employees were going to throw a pizza party Wednesday to celebrate Richardson’s arrest.
“I can’t tell you how good this makes me feel,” she said. “We’ve just been sitting here waiting for something to happen.”
Friday, February 8, 2013
County pastor cleared in embezzlement probe returns from leave, gives Mass in Maine on February 7, 2013
Three months after the Maineattorney general cleared him of any wrongdoing, the pastor of St. John Vianney Parish was back saying his first Mass in 10 months Thursday night at St. Joseph Catholic Church in Soldier Pond.
The Rev. James Nadeau took a voluntary leave of absence last April amid allegations of parish fund embezzlement.
At the same time, Bishop Richard J. Malone, apostolic administrator of the Diocese of Portland, announced internal and independent financial audits of the parish did reveal a number of compliance problems, both with diocesan policies and generally accepted accounting practices.
“I am very happy to be back,” Nadeau said Thursday afternoon. “The people here have been great and I am so thankful for their support.”
More than 100 parishioners packed into the Soldier Pond church Thursday night to greet Nadeau, who touched briefly on his absence during the Mass.
“For the past 310 days there have been many times I have had doubts, or been tempted or too mad to say Mass,” Nadeau said in his homily. “When I was feeling all those things, the devil was getting to me but then I would say Mass and even though I was alone, all those thoughts just flew away.”
Over the last three months, Nadeau has been meeting with diocesan representatives on the details of his return.
“It was a matter of Father Nadeau and the bishop and the diocese representatives working out some issues and discussing the issues that came out of the audit,” David Guthro, diocese director of communications, said Thursday afternoon. “All the issues and solutions have been accepted and everyone wants to work together for the good of the parish.”
Office procedures and policy errors have been addressed to help the parish run more efficiently, said Luis Sanclemente, parish council president.
A new bookkeeper had been hired to fill a vacant position and parish administrator Dennis Bouchard will work closely with Nadeau on the day-to-day operations, Sanclemente said,
“We feel this will make the parish much, much stronger,” he said. “Primarily we are so happy to have our shepherd back — he was missed.”
In Nadeau’s absence, temporary priests were assigned to the parish. Sanclemente said they did an outstanding job over the past 10 months.
Before ending the Mass on Thursday night, Nadeau thanked his parishioners for their prayers and support.
“It feels very warm for me that you came tonight,” he said to a round of sustained applause. “I would always tell people the hardest part about the last 310 days was being away from all of you.”
Nadeau greeted each parishioner individually as they filed out of the church after the Mass, accepting handshakes, hugs and well wishes.
“It is awesome to see him back,” Jay Charette of Fort Kent said.
His wife, Lisa Charette, agreed, adding, “We came to Mass here tonight because he needs to know we love him.”
Karen Ouellette also came from neighboring Fort Kent to hear Nadeau’s first Mass now that he is back.
“It’s been a long 310 days,” Ouellette said. “But now our shepherd is back and his flock is very happy.”
Nadeau said he will harbor no ill will about the last 10 months, preferring to look ahead to meeting the spiritual needs of the area while keeping in mind a quote from a former United States president.
“In his second inaugural address, [Abraham] Lincoln had a quote, ‘malice toward none and charity for all,’” Nadeau said. “That is the mantra I want to work on.”
Sunday, August 7, 2011
Embezzlement: How churches and charities can avoid it
FROM: SUNJOURNAL.COM -
It’s a familiar tale. It’s one that many longtime general practitioners of the law can tell. A concerned member of a nearly defunct but once thriving church or other charitable group walks through my door lamenting that some $50,000 of its funds just can’t be located. The concerned church or club member relates that its treasurer, whom I’ll refer to as “Ellie,” now 87, is reputed to have placed the investments - once earmarked for scholarships - in the ice box of her refrigerator at home.
"Ellie" hasn’t been acting quite like herself recently and the once revered community icon of the once buoyant charitable establishment hasn’t given a report on the whereabouts of the money for about three years now. Moreover, the organization that once boasted 65 members is now down to five. It stopped conducting regular meetings a decade ago, when Ellie was re-elected to her 19th term.
No one wants to ask "Ellie," or her family, for fear that even broaching any questions could be construed as an accusation.
Eventually, someone summons the courage to make the approach. A niece finds old certificates of deposits and bonds stashed away in a paper bag in the attic of "Ellie’s" home. Even though they’re no longer in the refrigerator and though the neglect has resulted in the forfeiture of some interest on the funds, they are indeed retrieved, not long before the charity is dissolved and the funds turned over to a treasurer of another local organization to handle.
The close call with "Ellie" and the temporarily missing $50,000has a sanguine outcome that nevertheless illustrates the perils when well intentioned volunteer groups handle significant amount of community charities over a long period of time.
Others are not so fortunate, however. Take the case of the retired Portland area businessman who embezzled $430,000. Investigators in 2007 proved that Bob Libby, then 76, stole at least that much from four charitable organizations between 1999 and 2006. The victims were three Portland-based Masonic groups and the Maine Charitable Mechanic Association. Among its missions was running a learning center for dyslexic children. Libby had been the sole bookkeeper for the groups, for some of them a period of nearly 20 years and was otherwise an esteemed leader in the Portland fraternal community.
Prosecutors caught up with Libby when water and electricity to one of the organization’s buildings were about to be shut off. By this time, the money was gone. Libby asserted he spent nearly all the stolen funds on home care for his wife, Charlotte, a retired South Portland High School teacher who suffered a stroke in 2002. But a longtime friend of Libby’s, who headed up one of the organizations debunked this explanation, noting that some of Libby’s misuse of funds pre-dated his wife’s illness, and calling him the “the biggest con artist that ever came down the pike.”
Numerous other Maine nonprofit organizations have also been victimized by light fingers from within their midst. Among them:
* Christ Episcopal Church in Augusta, whose part-time financial administrator pleaded guilty in 2009 to embezzling $49,ooo;
* First Congregational Church of Bingham, losing $82,000, its treasurer’s guilty plea also accepted in 2009;
* The state’s second-largest snowmobile club, the Rangeley Lakes Snowmobile Club, victim of a $45,000 embezzlement by its treasurer that likewise resulted in a 2009 guilty verdict;
* NAMI-Maine, the state’s largest mental health patient advocacy organization, hit for $257,000 in an embezzlement that sent its bookkeeper to prison in 2008;
To be sure, these losses involving nonprofits pale by comparison to such multi-billion dollar private sector heists as those entailed in the Bernard Madoff scandal.
There’s something more immediately devastating, however, when the fraud hits home, perpetrated both by and against our own friends and neighbors. Moreover, there’s not a lot that we here in Maine can do to avert another Madoff scandal. We as individuals can, however, take a few simple steps that could markedly reduce both the trauma of embezzlement and the anguish of financial negligence in our local nonprofit organizations. Here’s a few of them:
Make sure your treasurer is bonded. Even groups that raise close to $l00,000 a year find that the annual premium usually runs under $200. It’s worth it.
Always require two signatures on every check. Require that at least one other officer countersigns all checks the treasurer issues.
Require an annual audit. A professional one can be a bit pricey - $3,000 for the $l00,000 organization. If that won’t fly with your group’s board, then recruit some members to provide some periodic oversight of those handling the funds.
Don’t stockpile the funds your organization raises. Though perhaps counter to frugal-Yankee instincts, saving money is one of the worst things some volunteer charities wind up doing. A typical blunder is committed when a local nonprofit establishes the goal of trying to build a $50,000 to $l00,000 scholarship fund. The idea is to use only interest from such a fund so the principal can be a “permanent” never-ending source of assistance to students. It doesn’t take much time, however, once the fundraising goal is achieved, for the sponsoring organization to run out of steam.
Very few of the Grange, Masonic, Odd Fellows, Kiwanis, Lions, Rotary Clubs and churches with us in Maine just a few decades ago are anywhere near as viable today as they were in 1960, if indeed they have managed to survive at all. (Remember that charming wooden 19th-century church down the street that’s now the location of a convenience store?)
Many such organizations raised substantial charitable funds that, like the $50,000 in "Ellie’s" attic, are elusive today if they can be found at all. Instead, use your club or church’s energy to both raise and immediately spend the funds currently demanded for philanthropic purposes. Your group will thus be keeping faith with those who gave the money by seeing to it that it is spent for its avowed purpose. At the same time you’ll likely be removing it from the palsied hand of a fragile future custodian, one who will be neither as willing nor as able to fulfill your present day idealism.
If you do, I think the “Ellie” of the future and her family, not to mention the intended beneficiaries of your organization, will be grateful to you.
It’s a familiar tale. It’s one that many longtime general practitioners of the law can tell. A concerned member of a nearly defunct but once thriving church or other charitable group walks through my door lamenting that some $50,000 of its funds just can’t be located. The concerned church or club member relates that its treasurer, whom I’ll refer to as “Ellie,” now 87, is reputed to have placed the investments - once earmarked for scholarships - in the ice box of her refrigerator at home.
"Ellie" hasn’t been acting quite like herself recently and the once revered community icon of the once buoyant charitable establishment hasn’t given a report on the whereabouts of the money for about three years now. Moreover, the organization that once boasted 65 members is now down to five. It stopped conducting regular meetings a decade ago, when Ellie was re-elected to her 19th term.
No one wants to ask "Ellie," or her family, for fear that even broaching any questions could be construed as an accusation.
Eventually, someone summons the courage to make the approach. A niece finds old certificates of deposits and bonds stashed away in a paper bag in the attic of "Ellie’s" home. Even though they’re no longer in the refrigerator and though the neglect has resulted in the forfeiture of some interest on the funds, they are indeed retrieved, not long before the charity is dissolved and the funds turned over to a treasurer of another local organization to handle.
The close call with "Ellie" and the temporarily missing $50,000has a sanguine outcome that nevertheless illustrates the perils when well intentioned volunteer groups handle significant amount of community charities over a long period of time.
Others are not so fortunate, however. Take the case of the retired Portland area businessman who embezzled $430,000. Investigators in 2007 proved that Bob Libby, then 76, stole at least that much from four charitable organizations between 1999 and 2006. The victims were three Portland-based Masonic groups and the Maine Charitable Mechanic Association. Among its missions was running a learning center for dyslexic children. Libby had been the sole bookkeeper for the groups, for some of them a period of nearly 20 years and was otherwise an esteemed leader in the Portland fraternal community.
Prosecutors caught up with Libby when water and electricity to one of the organization’s buildings were about to be shut off. By this time, the money was gone. Libby asserted he spent nearly all the stolen funds on home care for his wife, Charlotte, a retired South Portland High School teacher who suffered a stroke in 2002. But a longtime friend of Libby’s, who headed up one of the organizations debunked this explanation, noting that some of Libby’s misuse of funds pre-dated his wife’s illness, and calling him the “the biggest con artist that ever came down the pike.”
Numerous other Maine nonprofit organizations have also been victimized by light fingers from within their midst. Among them:
* Christ Episcopal Church in Augusta, whose part-time financial administrator pleaded guilty in 2009 to embezzling $49,ooo;
* First Congregational Church of Bingham, losing $82,000, its treasurer’s guilty plea also accepted in 2009;
* The state’s second-largest snowmobile club, the Rangeley Lakes Snowmobile Club, victim of a $45,000 embezzlement by its treasurer that likewise resulted in a 2009 guilty verdict;
* NAMI-Maine, the state’s largest mental health patient advocacy organization, hit for $257,000 in an embezzlement that sent its bookkeeper to prison in 2008;
To be sure, these losses involving nonprofits pale by comparison to such multi-billion dollar private sector heists as those entailed in the Bernard Madoff scandal.
There’s something more immediately devastating, however, when the fraud hits home, perpetrated both by and against our own friends and neighbors. Moreover, there’s not a lot that we here in Maine can do to avert another Madoff scandal. We as individuals can, however, take a few simple steps that could markedly reduce both the trauma of embezzlement and the anguish of financial negligence in our local nonprofit organizations. Here’s a few of them:
Make sure your treasurer is bonded. Even groups that raise close to $l00,000 a year find that the annual premium usually runs under $200. It’s worth it.
Always require two signatures on every check. Require that at least one other officer countersigns all checks the treasurer issues.
Require an annual audit. A professional one can be a bit pricey - $3,000 for the $l00,000 organization. If that won’t fly with your group’s board, then recruit some members to provide some periodic oversight of those handling the funds.
Don’t stockpile the funds your organization raises. Though perhaps counter to frugal-Yankee instincts, saving money is one of the worst things some volunteer charities wind up doing. A typical blunder is committed when a local nonprofit establishes the goal of trying to build a $50,000 to $l00,000 scholarship fund. The idea is to use only interest from such a fund so the principal can be a “permanent” never-ending source of assistance to students. It doesn’t take much time, however, once the fundraising goal is achieved, for the sponsoring organization to run out of steam.
Very few of the Grange, Masonic, Odd Fellows, Kiwanis, Lions, Rotary Clubs and churches with us in Maine just a few decades ago are anywhere near as viable today as they were in 1960, if indeed they have managed to survive at all. (Remember that charming wooden 19th-century church down the street that’s now the location of a convenience store?)
Many such organizations raised substantial charitable funds that, like the $50,000 in "Ellie’s" attic, are elusive today if they can be found at all. Instead, use your club or church’s energy to both raise and immediately spend the funds currently demanded for philanthropic purposes. Your group will thus be keeping faith with those who gave the money by seeing to it that it is spent for its avowed purpose. At the same time you’ll likely be removing it from the palsied hand of a fragile future custodian, one who will be neither as willing nor as able to fulfill your present day idealism.
If you do, I think the “Ellie” of the future and her family, not to mention the intended beneficiaries of your organization, will be grateful to you.
Sunday, September 19, 2010
Maine embezzler to return money
A former bookkeeper for a nonprofit school food service has been ordered to repay $20,000 after pleading guilty to theft from the organization. The Sun Journal of Lewiston says 57-year-old Jane Dutton of Fryeburg will not serve any jail time. But she was ordered Friday to pay back $20,000 to the volunteer-run Maine School Food Services Association.Dutton entered the guilty plea Friday in Oxford County Superior Court. She was charged with embezzling the money between August 2005 and July 2007 while serving as the association's treasurer and bookkeeper.Under a plea agreement approved by Justice Robert Clifford, Dutton must repay the stolen money over four years. If she's successful, she can withdraw her plea to the felony count and plead to a misdemeanor count of theft and pay a $500 fine.
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