Pair plea in embezzlement of youth football league funds in West Virginia

 A Bloomingrose couple pled in Boone County Circuit Court on Sept. 30 regarding a 14-month investigation into missing funds from the now defunct Seth Midget Football League.

Jeremy Johnson pled guilty to the misdemeanor offense of embezzlement and faces up to a year in jail.  Pamela Johnson pled guilty to the felony offense of embezzlement and faces not less than one nor more than 10 years in prison. They are scheduled to return to court on Nov. 13. Details regarding any agreement for repaying the stolen funds was not available.

Between June 2014 and July 2018, the couple served as president and treasurer for the Seth Midget Football League. During this time they had unfettered access to the finances of the organization. The league folded in June 2018.

Investigator Captain David Sutphin with the Boone County Sheriff’s Office was focused on specific areas including suspicious ATM withdraws, "cash back" after purchases of other items at multiple retailers and more than $1,100 spent in South Carolina while vacationing at Myrtle Beach, which came after a vacation to Disney in Florida. The suspicious transactions all took place using a debit card in the league's name. Sutphin said that he is pleased with the results of the court proceedings.

"I think a felony embezzlement on her and a misdemeanor embezzlement on him is a good outcome from everything I looked at in my investigation," he said. “I’m pleased with that result.”

Sutphin had given of his own money to the league and even helped arrange fundraising events including one in Madison where Mayor Sonny Howell and the city council gave full access of the Madison Civic Center to the league for a fundraising event. 

The Captain became suspicious of the league when he heard that their numbers were down and he knew that over 80 kids participated the season before. He also was given a tip from a concerned volunteer that things may not be as they seemed.

Sutphin said that the most painstaking aspect of the investigation was combing through the bank records of both the league and the Johnsons.

“It was the bank records,” he said. “I had to go through five years of complete records for the league and the Johnsons’ personal account,” he said. “Then, matching things that they said they bought with the associated receipts. That took the most time. I went through thousands of grocery receipts and had to determine what was used for personal use and what was used for the league. I used menus from the events matched up with the associated dates, which were provided by the public. I got subpoenas and search warrant for every store they purchased items at.”

The purchases were made with the league’s debit card for the account at Whitesville State Bank.

Sutphin’s report showed $14,594 in cash withdraws, $4,640 in cash-back transactions, $1,000 in checks made out to cash, $22,647.04 spent at Sam’s Club, $3,310.83 spent at Kroger, $2,702.38 spent at Wal Mart and $1,159.43 spent on a Myrtle Beach vacation. The couple spent $550.66 at Lowe’s and $225.45 at the Country Store in Seth.

A total of $25,588.52 in league money was deposited into the Johnson’s personal bank account.

Sutphin’s comprehensive investigation reveals that only $7,754.83 in receipts could be recovered from Sam’s Club and of those receipts a total of $860 came via cash-back transactions. The couple received $640 in club membership cash rewards.

Only $1,340.33 could be documented through receipts at Wal Mart while $400 was obtained in cash-back transactions at the retailer.

At Kroger, $644.25 in receipts were recovered with $200 in cash-back transactions documented.

Additionally, a significant amount of cash was not deposited during the 2017 calendar year making it impossible to document the total of monies taken during that time period.

Fort Myers teacher accused of stealing money from drama students in Florida

A Fort Myers High School teacher is being investigated for stealing money raised by drama students.

The teacher, Laura Licata, headed District 6 of the Florida Thespians group, which includes 30 schools and 700 students in the district from Bradenton to Marco Island.

It's so serious that the state organization dissolved the district that the students first participate in before moving on to the state competition.

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This doesn't mean they still can't participate in upcoming events. But they will now have to travel to other districts around the state.

Students call that disappointing and feel like the Florida thespians are closing the curtain on students in District 6.

Students at Cypress Lake High School are continuing to practice although their future is uncertain because their district was dissolved.

“We found out in class, and all of our faces just dropped. We were devastated,” explained JJ Fuentes.

Licata has been removed from the classroom.

“It's one person, and now we're all getting crapped on for it,” expressed Carlos Robbins, one of the students affected.

He is referring to 700 drama students in 30 private and public schools, which make up District 6 in Southwest Florida.

“We've been preparing these pieces for months and months now,” noted Abbey Corcoran.

The Executive Director for the International Thespian Society, Julie Cohen, said every student will still have an opportunity to participate at the district level.

“They'll have to travel to a different location. For some students, it actually will be close to their home school. For some it may be a little further,” Cohen said.

Gwynetta Gittens, chair of the Lee County School Board, said that is a concern.

“And to think that would be taken away from them... we just can't have that,” Gittens said.

The students, though, refuse to give up.

“At the end of the day, I think we just need to be hopeful and look forward,” said Ricardo Bocanegra.

The school district confirmed it is investigating Licata's management of the checkbook.

Sources close to the investigation said that nearly $40,000 is missing from the District 6 account.

The school district says it will turn over the investigation to the Department of Education and law enforcement.

Indictment clouds appointment at Dolores schools in California

The new secondary dean of students in Dolores School District Re-4A is facing embezzlement charges by the San Diego District Attorney’s Office, but school administrators hope he will be exonerated soon and have expressed full support of his hiring.

Justin Schmitt, 36, is one of 11 defendants in a case involving a $50 million charter school fraud, although his attorney Eric Beste emphasized that Schmitt was a salaried employee and not an owner of the company, and that no one has yet been convicted in this case

He began working for Re-4A on Aug. 12, replacing outgoing dean and athletic director John Marchino, who now works for the Mancos School District Re-6. There were nine candidates for the position, five of whom were interviewed, according to Doreen Jones, finance director with the district.

Superintendent Lis Richard said Schmitt went through a thorough vetting process that included legal consultation, background checks, an interview committee and board approval.

She told parents in a letter dated Sept. 26 that he is “an extraordinary administrator.”

“I promise you that we are aware of anything you may have heard and we stand by him in full support,” Richard wrote in the letter. In an email Wednesday, she reiterated those points, adding that he is “the right person for our secondary dean of students position. His passion, dedication and wisdom are exemplary.”

She encouraged parents who had questions about Schmitt to visit her.

Efforts to reach Dolores School Board President Kay Phelps have not been returned.

Schmitt declined to comment for this article, citing his attorneys’ advisement. According to the indictment, he faces about a dozen criminal charges, including conspiracy to commit a crime and misappropriation of public money. He could face a maximum sentence of 11 years in custody.

The case in question involves two alleged ringleaders – Sean McManus and Jason Schrock – who opened 19 online charter schools and allegedly used them to embezzle $50 million in state funds, according to a statement released by the San Diego District Attorney’s Office.

The 235-page indictment was handed down by a grand jury May 17 after a yearlong investigation by the district attorney’s office. Overall, it lists several criminal counts, including conspiracy, misappropriation of public funds, paying for student information and conflict of interest.

Much of the alleged fraud involved falsifying enrollment counts in order to secure additional state funding, according to the statement released by the San Diego District Attorney’s Office. The indictment charges the defendants with seeking out small school districts and proposing they authorize online charter schools, in order for A3 to earn more public funds in the form of oversight fees.

Additionally, the indictment states, they paid pre-existing athletic programs for enrollment documentation and then enrolled students in a charter school during the summer, collecting about $2,000 per student from the state of California.

Other components of the alleged scheme involved backdating student enrollment information, dually enrolling students from private schools to the charter schools, and transferring students from one school to another, again to collect additional state funding, which is partially determined by average daily attendance.

The indictment alleges that Schmitt was involved in several components of the fraud and accuses him of multiple counts of conspiracy to commit a crime and misappropriation of public money.

On one count, it alleges that he “committed two or more related felonies” related to “the taking and resulted in the loss by another person and entity of more than five hundred thousand dollars.”

His attorney, Eric Beste, working for Barnes & Thornburgh LLP, said he could not comment on much of Schmitt’s case because of the ongoing litigation, but he emphasized that Schmitt was a salaried employee and not an A3 business owner.

“There’s been some comments in the media about people making millions and millions of dollars in this business,” Beste said. “There may be other people who fall into that category, but that’s not Justin.”

He said Schmitt pleaded not guilty.

Schmitt is a product of Dolores High School himself, according to his online bio. After graduating from Fort Lewis College, he served as a teacher and then an administrator in both physical and online schools, according to a motion filed by his attorneys.

He held leadership roles with Mosaica Online Academy, which ran into financial difficulties. Many of the management contracts for Mosaica’s online schools were purchased by Foundation Learning, which retained Schmitt to continue operating some of the schools.

The online schools were eventually renamed “Valiant Academy.” A3 purchased the Valiant schools in California in early 2017, according to the motion.

The San Diego district attorney has charged 11 defendants – some of whom are employees and some of whom are just associates, Beste said.

“Everybody’s under pleas of not guilty,” he said. “No one has admitted anything; no one’s been convicted of anything yet.”

Beste is contesting the allegations and is in conversations with the San Diego District Attorney’s Office, he said. The district attorney’s office is aware of Schmitt’s new post in Dolores and has raised no objections, he added.

Currently, the next proceedings in this case are scheduled at 9:30 a.m. Oct. 30 in the San Diego Superior Court, Central Division, Central Courthouse.

Leadership changes in DoloresThe Dolores School District has experienced a tumultuous few years in terms of leadership changes. In May 2018, Scott Cooper resigned as superintendent of the district to take a job as assistant superintendent of Mesa Valley County School District 51 in Grand Junction.

Phil Kasper assumed the job of interim superintendent a few months later, and Lis Richard, hired in May for the post, began working for the district July 1. Prior to coming to Dolores, Richard served as superintendent in the Creede School District.

In other leadership changes, the district also lost both elementary and secondary principals in recent months. Elementary Principal Gary Livick announced his resignation late February, and Secondary Principal Jen Hufman just a few weeks ago – her last day was Sept. 30.

Richard addressed the recent changes, in particular the resignation of Hufman, in her letter to parents. “We do not plan to put anyone in place as an interim principal,” she wrote. “We currently have staff that can fill in and cover needed areas until we hire a new principal. There have been many interested in the position and we begin interviews the week of October 7.”

She added too that Schmitt has applied for the principal position. “He will be considered in a fair and non biased manner as all of the candidates will,” she wrote.

Former Atascadero High band booster club treasurer to serve jail time for embezzlement

The woman who admitted to embezzling thousands of dollars from the Atascadero High School Band and Pageantry Booster Club was sentenced Wednesday to about six months in jail and three years of probation.

While holding back tears, Sherry Gong told the court, “I feel so sorry.”

San Luis Obispo County Superior Court Judge Jacquelyn Duffy handed down the sentence to Gong while denying the request for the minimum sentence of about 10-30 days in jail and a motion that would reduce the crime from a felony to misdemeanor.

Gong pleaded guilty in August to three charges of embezzlement filed against her.

The criminal complaint alleges she stole a total of $32,554 from the organization on three different occasions between July 2017 and April 2018 while serving as treasurer of the Atascadero High School club.

Gong’s attorney, Guy Galambos, said his client has no criminal history and that she approached the director of the band before police were made aware of the missing funds, but was turned away.

A statement from a booster club member that was read in court Wednesday said, “The embezzlement crime destroyed our financial security.”

The club claims it was unable to offer scholarships due to lack of funds.

“Sherry Gong was trusted… She also betrayed the high school, community,” the statement read, continuing, “Sherry Gong knew what she was doing when she took from the kids.”

After charges were filed against her in July, Gong admitted to taking the money. Galambos said a close family member had begged her for money, saying he needed it as a matter "of life or death." Galambos said before an investigation began, Gong was already raising money from other family members and selling personal jewelry with the intent to pay back the funds.

She is scheduled to begin serving her 180-day sentence Dec. 2.

Gong was also ordered to not volunteer or be employed in a capacity where she has financial responsibilities.

Gong is the wife of San Luis Obispo County Clerk-Recorder Tommy Gong.

Man accused of embezzling $64000 from wrestling clubs in Wyoming

The man acting as treasurer of two local youth wrestling clubs is accused of stealing a total of $64,827 since 2017.

Steven D. Johnson, 44, made his initial appearance on two counts of felony theft Monday afternoon in Circuit Court.

The maximum penalty on each count is 10 years in prison and a $10,000 fine.

Johnson became treasurer of the Gillette Wrestling Club in October 2017 and of the Camel Kids Wrestling Club in June 2018.

He was part of the latter club’s organization for almost 13 years and been on the board for most of that time, according to an affidavit of probable cause filed in the case.

In late August, the Camel Kids Wrestling Club had gathered evidence about Johnson’s alleged use of the club’s debit card for personal use, many of the charges made on Amazon and at Walmart, but not for club purposes. The board confronted Johnson about the charges and he allegedly admitted to spending the club’s money for his personal use, according to the affidavit.

He agreed to pay back the $11,000 that the club thought at that time that was missing.

But board members decided to report the embezzlement to police instead after learning that he also was allegedly embezzling from the Gillette Wrestling Club, according to the affidavit.

The Gillette Wrestling Club discovered Aug. 31 that its account at Wells Fargo Bank was closed because it was overdrawn. Board members also learned he’d drained a different account at Campco Federal Credit Union and had opened a new account at Pinnacle Bank with a $4,000 donation to the account and it is in arrears, according to the affidavit of probable cause.

She began to investigate and found some fraudulent charges that totaled $11,170 on the club’s debit card in August.

But as the club continued to investigate, it found more money missing, according to the affidavit. The money generated from two raffles and registration fees also came up short. The total deposited should have been at a minimum $63,180, but only $47,000 had been deposited — a difference the club attributed to cash payments.

Between the debit card payments and the short deposits, the club figured it lost $26,650.

For the Gillette Wrestling Club, the board found $30,167 worth of fraudulent withdrawals from two bank accounts, which Sifuentes said were spent on a variety of things from contact lenses to city utility bills to Amazon orders to hotel rooms at tournaments.

It also lost the $4,000 deposit at Pinnacle plus was at least $1,937 in the red on it. It also found another $2,073 that hadn’t been deposited from a recent fundraising event.

The two clubs vowed to continue to operate even though it may take more donations to make that happen.

“We teach these kids that sometimes they may be down, but never out, and the same is true for our entire program,” Johnson wrote.

Lico Sifuentes, president of the Gillette Wrestling Club, said they were shocked to find the account empty at Wells Fargo.

“(Board member) Denise (Igo) was in tears and I was almost in tears,” he said. “I don’t know how somebody could do this.”

Johnson would come to board meetings with information about the accounts, but “we never made him prove anything” — something in hindsight he said every board should do. The bills were paid, so they had no reason to believe that the money wasn’t where he said it would be, Sifuentes added.

He now believes that all nonprofit clubs should ask to see the actual bank statements, that each should demand that two people from the club should be listed on banking accounts and that banks shouldn’t be allowed to open a non-profit account without at least two people from the club signing off on it.

The Gillette Wrestling Club said that it has made changes to its organization to ensure that it doesn’t happen again, it said in a letter.

The group hosts the annual Pat Weede Memorial Wrestling Tournament, offers local scholarships for wrestlers from both Campbell County and Thunder Basin high schools and covers travel expenses for local wrestlers competing at the national level.

The money that Johnson is accused of taking came from donations and fundraisers, not the Campbell County Public Recreation District Rec Mill grant, which is still intact, the club said in a letter.

“We are saddened by this deceit,” the club said. “However, we are going to move forward to get to the bottom of the financial issues, in addition to making the needed preparations for a successful Pat Weede Memorial Tournament in December 2019.

“Gillette Wrestling and Camel Kids have been helping wrestlers in this community for many years. And, with the help of the multitude of wonderful people surrounding us, the good work of these organizations will continue for the youth of our community,” the board said.

Mike Johnson, Camel Kids chairman, said in a letter that to discover the money missing “was particularly shocking” because it was allegedly taken “by a person within both the organizations who was in a position of great trust. It is this that hurts the most.”

“Despite this huge setback, we will not allow any criminal act to defeat our spirit or the continuation of either Camel Kids or the great work of Gillette Wrestling,” wrote Johnson, who is not related to Steven.

The Camel Kids Club believes that the thefts began about a week after Johnson was elected treasurer. A board member was alerted to problems in May when a Casper hotel called to report that it hadn’t received payment for rooms that were reserved for an upcoming event. Johnson said he would take care of it. But it still hadn’t been paid a few days later when the board member got a second call from the hotel, according to the affidavit.

Grand jury indicts former Lafayette High School principal on charge of felony embezzlement in Virginia

Four months after Kimberly Hollemon resigned as principal of Lafayette High School, a grand jury in the Williamsburg-James City County Circuit Court indicted her on a single count of felony embezzlement.

Hollemon, 49 of Providence Forge, was initially placed on administrative leave by the Williamsburg-James City County School Division in April and she resigned May 2. The grand jury handed down the indictment on Sept. 18, according to Williamsburg-James City County Circuit Court filings.

James City County Police Department spokeswoman Stephanie Williams said a person at the school division called police about suspected embezzlement.The person alleged Hollemon used the school division’s credit card to make purchases, Williams said. Investigators discovered Hollemon used the card repeatedly to purchase items for her personal use.Hollemon turned herself into the James City County Police Department on Sept. 24 around 4:15 p.m. after the police department had a warrant for her arrest issued on Sept. 20, according to the filings.Hollemon was transported to the Virginia Peninsula Regional Jail and released on a $1,000 unsecured bond due to her “ample ties to this community," according to the bond order.When reached for comment, Hollemon said “You can contact my attorney,” before she ended the phone call.Hollemon’s attorney Travis Williams of Chesterfield said he intended to enter a not guilty plea on her behalf, and that she was stunned by the accusations against her.

“My client is a lifelong educator with a pristine background, who has always put the kids first and always worked to help them,” Williams said. “She was shocked when these allegations came out, and we will vigorously fight them because my client would never violate that position of trust.”

Williams also said that Hollemon wanted to thank some members of the community for words of support she had received since April, including from parents and students.

According to Williamsburg-James City County School Division spokeswoman Eileen Cox, a principal can make purchases at his or her discretion. The school’s bookkeeper does not sign off on those purchases and they are submitted directly to the finance department. As the audit of Hollemon’s spending began, the school division instituted a new policy where purchases had to be signed off on by an assistant superintendent.

The purchases, item descriptions and vendors listed in the spending reports did not appear to be out of line with what is normally used in the school, Cox said Thursday. “It was after staff members at the school raised attention to irregularities, that what was being purchased was not being used at the school, that we began our investigation."

“This is not a case of (the finance department) knowing about it for months.”

Cox said while the allegations against Hollemon were reported to the police department in April, she was unsure of when the school division became aware of the allegations.

Hollemon had served as principal of Lafayette since May 2018, having first served as the school’s interim principal starting in August 2017, after the former principal Anita Swinton, resigned to take a position in W-JCC’s central office.

After her resignation, Hollemon was hired to work at John Tyler Community College about two weeks ago, according to the court filings.

If convicted, Hollemon faces as much as 20 years in prison and $2,500 in fines, according to the Virginia Code.

Calhoun County Church and Catholic School Bookkeeper Accused of Embezzlement in Alabama

According to Information in a news release issued this week by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Birmingham – the bookkeeper for a Calhoun County church and Catholic school is facing up to 20 years in federal prison – and a quarter-of-a-million dollar fine – after being accused of embezzlement.

Angela Cheatwood, age 41, has been charged with wire fraud after she allegedly took nearly $450,000, including stealing from school fundraisers and donations,

She is the bookkeeper for Sacred Heart of Jesus Catholic Church and Sacred Heart School in Anniston.

Prosecutors claim Cheatwood wrote unauthorized checks to her personal account from the church’s bank account and stole cash from school fundraisers and donations meant for the school and deposited that money into her bank account.

The U.S. Secret Service assisted the Birmingham U.S. Attorney’s Office on the case.

The statement did not list a court date.