Repeat embezzler sentenced in church theft

A woman with a history of theft will serve prison time in the embezzlement of more than $73,000 from a Portland church.

The Oregonian/OregonLive reports 63-year-old Christine Marie Culver has to repay money taken as part of her three-year prison sentence.

She said Friday during sentencing that she was sexually and emotionally abused as a child, and that she has low self-esteem.

Culver said she spent the church's money on herself and gifts for friends.

She previously spent 13 months in prison after being convicted on charges in the embezzlement of $225,000 from the city of Molalla, where she worked.

Prosecutor Ryan Lufkin said it's typically unusual for offenders to repeat these types of crimes.

Local educator, bookkeeper sentenced for embezzlement

A former Walla Walla University finance professor and self-employed bookkeeper will spend time in federal prison on a charge of wire fraud in connection with the theft of more than $800,000 from a local dentist.

Dana G. Thompson of College Place was sentenced in U.S. District Court in the Tri-Cities this week to serve 18 months in prison.

Thompson taught finance at the Seventh-day Adventist university in College Place for 15 years and kept books for about 13 years for Walla Walla Dental Care owner Dr. Dan Laizure.

Thompson pleaded guilty in April and in May told the Union-Bulletin there were extenuating circumstances in the case, but did not give additional details.

The theft from Laizure was carried out by writing unauthorized checks from the dentist to himself, banks and other people in guise of insurance company refunds, according to court documents. Upon deposit, those checks electronically debited Walla Walla Dental care's account.

In addition to his prison sentence, Thompson was ordered to pay $823,832 in restitution. Laizure is to be repaid $773,832, while $50,000 will go to Traveler's Insurance for costs associated with Laizure's investigation of the loss of money.

Thompson has handed over $34,000 from the sale of his home and a gold coin collection, according to court documents.

Court documents from his sentencing hearing Tuesday state Thompson will be on probation for three years following his release from prison. He will have to make all financial information available to his probation officer, including authorization to conduct credit checks and see federal income tax returns. Thompson also must disclose all financial assets and liabilities to the supervising officer, and he cannot sell or give away an asset without court approval.

As well, Thompson cannot incur any new debt, open lines of credit or enter into any financial contracts without permission from his probation officer, sentencing documents said.

Authorities may search him, his home, office or vehicle at any time during his probation, and he must complete a mental health evaluation and follow certain treatment recommendations.

Thompson has waived his right to appeal. The court recommended he serve his sentence at the federal prison in Sheridan, Ore.

Former Sandy youth football treasurer accused of embezzlement in Oregon

The former treasurer of Sandy Youth Football has been accused of embezzling more than $23,000 from the organization.

Susan Marie Farness, 41, has been indicted by a Clackamas County grand jury on nine counts of first-degree theft, five counts of second-degree theft and 28 counts of identity theft.

Farness, who served as treasurer from January 2011 until July 2012, surrendered voluntarily last week and was booked into the Clackamas County Jail. She was released after posting a $7,500 security deposit against bail of $75,000.

Arraignment in Clackamas County Circuit Court is set for May 2.

First-degree theft is a Class C felony and is punishable by a maximum of five years in prison and a $125,000 fine.

Teresa McKinnis, Sandy Youth Football co-president, said officials became aware that something was amiss last year, when they were informed that Ridell, a football equipment supplier, said the league had failed to pay its bill. A subsequent internal investigation found that the league's accounts were so low that last season was placed in jeopardy.

"We usually have about 10 kids on scholarship," McKinnis said. "But we had to inform the parents of those kids that they had to pay the registration fees or the kids couldn't play. We couldn't honor any scholarships."

The league board then fired Farness and President Chris Jelinek. Both were authorized signers on Sandy Youth Football accounts.

Jelinek has not been charged. Sandy police declined to say whether he is under investigation.

The board then appointed McKinnis, who formerly served as president, and vice president Nate Rotzien to serve as co-presidents. They have been working to strengthen the organization, which fields six teams for grades 3 through 8, serving about 160 kids.

"We still owe about $7,000 to Ridell," McKinnis said. "We're in the process of finding another equipment supplier and we are accepting any donations people want to make in hopes of getting our finances on solid footing. We are planning on having a season." 

Oregon charter school founders accused in $20 million racketeering lawsuit

FROM OREGONLIVE.COM 

Tim King and Norm Donohoe, who ran a chain of taxpayer-funded charter schools across small-town Oregonfrom their headquarters in Clackamas, scammed the state out of $17 million and must repay that plus $2.7 million more, the state said in a court filing this week.

The legal claim, brought Thursday by the Oregon Department of Justice in Marion County Circuit Court, accuses the pair of racketeering, money laundering and other fraud from 2007 to 2010.

King and Donohoe, who were the director and president, respectively, of a nonprofit they named EdChoices, submitted false, incomplete and misleading records about how many students were enrolled in the schools and how they were spending the state's money, state prosecutors say in the complaint.

"It's not true," Donohoe said when reached after 5 p.m. Friday. He said EdChoices' attorney would need to speak for him but was not available after hours. King could not be reached for comment.

The pair opened and operated at least 10 charter schools that went by various and changing names, including Baker Web Academy, Estacada Early College and Sheridan AllPrep Academy. Most were launched under the name AllPrep. They existed under agreements with the school boards in Estacada, Sisters, Baker City, Sheridan, Burns and Marcola, but enrolled students from across the state in their online programs.

The state provided startup grants of up to $450,000 per charter school. The state Department of Educationalso paid about $6,000 a year for each student enrolled, relying on the charter school operators to document the number. The state now says those records were "erroneous, false and misleading."

King was the charismatic front man for AllPrep when the schools' unraveling finances prompted state regulators in the education and justice departments to begin asking questions in spring 2010. He quickly stepped down. Donohoe said Friday that he doesn't know how to reach him.

Some of the schools abruptly closed during the school year, leaving students and teachers in a lurch. Others have since stopped operating. Still others operate under new auspices.

Before starting AllPrep schools, King was a former teacher paid to create and run three North Clackamas School District charter schools: New Urban High, Clackamas Middle College and Clackamas Web Academy. Those schools are still operating, though King left in 2008.

The district discovered a trail of financial problems, including hundreds of thousands of dollars in questioned expenditures, only after his departure. The three schools agreed in 2009 to repay the district almost $400,000, a debt load that crimped their operations. But the state did not file a legal claim against King.

With AllPrep, King and Donohoe secured each small-town school board's agreement to let them start charter schools in those districts. The boards unknowingly agreed to turn over 20 percent to 25 percent of the per-student funding from the state to EdChoices, the state alleges.

When King sought startup grants to launch the schools, he agreed many times in writing to abide by the terms, including spending them only on allowable expenses at that particular school. He eventually won more than $2 million in such grants, but did not spend all the money as promised and fraudulently mingled funds from different schools to benefit EdChoices, the state says.

King and his wife filed for bankruptcy in Oregon in 2011.

The state is demanding that King and Donohoe repay all the money their schools received in grants and per-student funding, on the grounds it all was obtained under racketeering and false claims, even though the schools did legitimately educate some students. That adds up to $17 million.

In addition, the claim demands $2.7 million in damages for breach of contract plus attorney fees and the costs of investigation and litigation

Lake Oswego groups attempt to recover from stolen funds, loss of community trust

FROM OREGONLIVE.COM

Local non-profit group leaders say the jailing of a woman who stole an estimated $100,000 from their organizations won’t compensate for the lost money, opportunities and trust from the community.

“It’s not going to be easy,” said Chris Casebeer, President of Lake Oswego Youth Football. “Besides the money gone, which is going to take us years to recover from, it’s hard to know that this took place because of a mother in our neighborhood.”

The loss has forced the football league to cut back on financial assistance to kids who otherwise couldn’t afford the $300-$350 registration fee. The organization typically offers up to 20 scholarships a year, Casebeer said, but they now have to offer payment plans instead. The loss could also have future impacts on how the league pays for updating equipment for kids, using city fields and other effects.

“The effect has been immediate and it will be ongoing,” said Casebeer.

View full sizeClackamas County JailRenae Mason

Renae Marlee Mason, 45, was sentenced to five years in prison last week in Clackamas County Circuit Court after pleading guilty in June to six counts of theft charges. She admitted taking money from Lake Oswego Junior Baseball, Lake Oswego Youth Football and the Lake Oswego Junior High School Parent Club while serving as a volunteer treasurer for all three organizations until January.

She spent the money mostly on herself, according to court documents, including an almost $1,800 stay at the Marriott Marquis hotel in Times Square and shopping sprees at Tommy Bahamas, Victoria’s Secret, Sephora and others. Kevin Davenport, Mason’s attorney, attributed Mason’s behavior as a result of side-effects from abusing pain medication.

Chuck McLaughlin, president of Lake Oswego Junior Baseball, said his group discovered some unusual account transfers soon after Mason became their treasurer last October.

“It definitely raised red flags with us when we noticed some heavy activity on our account when there was no baseball being played,” McLaughlin said.

He said Mason took $5,000 from their reserve fund, leaving about $1,000. McLaughlin said once members of his group noticed money missing, they alerted the other groups where Mason acted as treasurer. Once the other groups noticed missing funds as well, Lake Oswego police were notified. McLaughlin said the money taken from the group, which acts as a baseball league for 7th- and 8th-graders, did not have much of an effect on their season.

“We weren’t hit as hard as some of the other groups,” he said. “But the whole thing is really just a sad and disappointing situation.”

The group that was impacted the most was Lake Oswego Youth Football, which starts this season $15,000 in the hole, according to Casebeer.

He said Mason took $85,000 from the group and said that she had been stealing from the group since she became treasurer in late 2007.

New safeguards have been put into place to make sure a similar incident does not occur, he added. He believes all three groups have had to deal with disappointment from the community.

“People trusted us to take care of the money given to us,” he said. “When you have someone in your system that is not being trustworthy, it ruins the trust of not only your organization, but the community as a whole.”

Denise Smith, former president of the Lake Oswego Junior High School Parent Club, said the group has had to deal with similar community concerns since Mason stole a little more than $30,000 from the club after becoming treasurer last July.

“It certainly caused people to second guess where their money is going, and we initially had a hard time finding people to fill key roles in our group,” said Smith. “But we have found people capable of taking over, and I think in time we will all be able to recover from this

Oregon youth groups' treasurer pleads guilty to theft.

FROM THE COLUMBIAN.COM

An Oregon woman has pleaded guilty to embezzling money from two youth sports leagues and a school parents club and agreed to repay more than $135,000.

Renae Marlee Mason of Lake Oswego could face a maximum six years in prison when she is sentenced Aug. 11. The 45-year-old woman pleaded guilty Tuesday in Clackamas County Circuit Court to seven theft counts. Prosecutor Michael Wu tells The Oregonian that efforts to agree on a sentence recommendation failed. It will be up to a judge to decide her sentence.
Mason's lawyer Kevin Davenport says she has agreed to repay the money she took from Lake Oswego Junior Baseball, Lake Oswego Youth Football and the Lake Oswego Junior High School Parent Club. She served as volunteer treasurer for the organizations.
Wu says that amount will exceed $135,000.

Molalla woman pleads guilty in school group embezzlement case in Oregon

A Molalla woman was sentenced to 180 days in jail after pleading guilty on Friday morning to stealing about $10,000 from the Mulino Parent Group, which funds activities and purchases materials for Mulino Elementary School students.




Laurie Brinkman, 36, pleaded guilty to five counts of first degree theft before Judge Ronald Thom in Clackamas County Circuit Court. She had been arrested last October, but was out on release until sheriff’s deputies took her into custody Friday following her sentencing.



The charges stemmed from transactions from the MPG bank account that took place between March 1, 2009 and Jan. 5, 2010. As treasurer of the group, Brinkman had embezzled money from the group bank account, keeping a set of fake books, Deputy District Attorney Sarah Dumont said. Brinkman also stole money outright from a fall fundraiser and other school events.



Brinkman admitted to having a shopping problem and was thousands of dollars in debt when the embezzling began to take place, Dumont said.



“She became aware of the investigation and it was at that point she came forward,” Dumont said.



Brinkman paid the group back with almost $10,000 from her mother and urged the MPG leaders not to press charges, Dumont said.



Brinkman’s attorney, Tom Hanrahan, said his client acknowledges her crime and has since reformed her life and personally sought out counseling. Hanrahan requested a 15-day jail sentence combined with home detention and at least 360 hours of community service.



Instead, Judge Thom followed the district attorney’s recommendation of a 180-day jail sentence, plus 18 months of supervised probation, $116 in restitution to the MPG for bank fees related to the case and completion of criminal reform courses.



“Regardless of what addictions we may have, we’re still responsible for our behavior,” Thom told Brinkman. “You have violated a position of trust…Stealing from a community and especially children, I think the average citizen would agree is particularly heinous.”



Still, Thom acknowledged that Brinkman has indicated a willingness to change and he encouraged her to continue working with her counselor.



"If I didn't believe that people can change, I'd never last at this job," he said.



Brinkman wept as a sheriff’s deputy handcuffed her following the sentencing. She is now lodged at Clackamas County Jail.

Lake Oswego, Oregon parent, sport clubs embezzled for $84K

A woman who kept the books for a Lake Oswego parent group and two sports clubs was arrested Thursday on accusations of embezzlement.




Ranae Marlee Mason, 45, was accused of five counts of first-degree aggravated theft and one count of first-degree theft, said Lt. Doug Treat.



She was taken into custody after she was interviewed Thursday by Lake Oswego police, Treat said.



Mason reportedly said she was a certified public accountant as she volunteered to be treasurer for the Lake Oswego Junior Baseball organization, the Lake Oswego Youth Football League and the Lake Oswego Junior High School's parent-teacher association, Treat said.



Police believe she embezzled about $84,000 from accounts for those three groups into her personal bank accounts, Treat said.



The baseball group noticed irregularities and audited their books, noting that $5,000 was missing. That led to the other two groups reviewing their accounts. The football league was missing $51,000 and the parents club $30,000, Treat said.



Mason told police in the interview that she is not a CPA, and that she acted alone. She said the motive for the embezzlement was triggered by her unemployment a year ago. She reportedly used the money for living expenses.



Youth Football volunteer Chris Casebeer said “It is always unfortunate when something like this happens in a community. Lake Oswego Youth Football is cooperating with authorities to recover any money that belongs to our organization”

Lebanon, Oregon woman indicted on embezzlement charges

A Linn County grand jury has indicted Molly Louise Marteney of Lebanon on multiple embezzlement charges that are alleged to have occurred while she worked at the First Assembly of God in Lebanon.Marteney’s indictment lists 10 charges but does not indicate how much money was allegedly stolen, saying only that it exceeds $10,000.The indictment refers to a “theft of an equity line of credit secured by deed of trust” from property belonging to the church, at Seventh Avenue and West Oak Street.Interim Pastor Ted Boatsman said this morning, “One’s never prepared for something like this, and sometimes it comes from the person you would least expect.”He said Marteney has had a number of jobs at the church over the last 15 years, including treasurer and bookkeeper. She also is a church member.Boatsman said the church is cooperating with the investigation and has opened all of its records to authorities.The offenses are alleged to have occurred during seven time periods starting on April 24, 2006, and concluding on March 3, 2009.he charges are: three counts of first-degree aggravated theft; three counts of misapplication of entrusted funds; three counts of falsifying business records; and one count of first-degree forgery.The theft and forgery charges are felonies, and the remaining ones are misdemeanors.Marteney, 60, was indicted on July 22, and a warrant was issued for her arrest. She was booked at the Linn County Jail last Thursday afternoon and was released after posting a security amount of $5,000.She is scheduled to be arraigned at 1:15 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 18, in Linn County Circuit Court. The Department of Justice did the investigation involving a possible mortgage fraud,” said District Attorney Jason Carlile. “The DOJ will be the special prosecutors in the case.” Marteney has hired Forrest Reid of Albany to represent her.He said Monday, “I’ve met with her for quite some time now, but I was just retained this morning. We were discussing the situation prior to today because she didn’t know if she would be charged or not.”