Woman Indicted In Girl's Softball Theft

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Below from today's news. Associations, leagues and large organizations, never leave the funds in control of one person without another person's over-site. We get these stories every year.

MT. ORAB, Ohio -- A woman has been indicted Monday after allegedly stealing over $5,000 from a girl's softball association.

The Brown County Grand Jury passed down the one-count indictment for theft against the former treasurer of the Mt. Orab Girls' Softball Association, 36-year-old Lori Henley.

Henley allegedly took over $5,000 between April 2006 and October 2008. The theft was discovered when the association's concession stand was repossessed in January 2009 for non-payment.

Association members believed the concession stand was paid for in full, but Henley had entered into a contract to purchase the building and failed to keep up with the payments. The concession stand has since been returned.

Henley allegedly wrote numerous checks from the association for cash and failed to make deposits from the proceeds of the concession stand. In one instance, Henley paid her own electric bill with an association check.

Henley faces 6 to 18 months in prison and a $5,000 fine. She has not yet been arrested.

From WCPO-9: http://www.wcpo.com/news/local/stor...all-Theft/OFaAN5D96Ua7kCKvehAzdA.cspx?rss=703

 

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Below from today's news. Associations, leagues and large organizations, never leave the funds in control of one person without another person's over-site. We get these stories every year.

MT. ORAB, Ohio -- A woman has been indicted Monday after allegedly stealing over $5,000 from a girl's softball association.

The Brown County Grand Jury passed down the one-count indictment for theft against the former treasurer of the Mt. Orab Girls' Softball Association, 36-year-old Lori Henley.

Henley allegedly took over $5,000 between April 2006 and October 2008. The theft was discovered when the association's concession stand was repossessed in January 2009 for non-payment.

Association members believed the concession stand was paid for in full, but Henley had entered into a contract to purchase the building and failed to keep up with the payments. The concession stand has since been returned.

Henley allegedly wrote numerous checks from the association for cash and failed to make deposits from the proceeds of the concession stand. In one instance, Henley paid her own electric bill with an association check.

Henley faces 6 to 18 months in prison and a $5,000 fine. She has not yet been arrested.

From WCPO-9: http://www.wcpo.com/news/local/stor...all-Theft/OFaAN5D96Ua7kCKvehAzdA.cspx?rss=703

Looks like ORGS need to start performing Credit Checks on those given Money Responsibilities before doing so. This is probably as much the ORGS fault as it is the womans. I would bet money that there were all kinds of signs that she was NOT the right person for the job.

 

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There is no way this could be considered the orgs fault. They are not the ones that did the stealing. However they probably should have done what you suggested and done a background check which may or may not have turned up anything.

Having one person over-seeing another in each case that money is handled is always a must.

 

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There is no way this could be considered the orgs fault. They are not the ones that did the stealing. However they probably should have done what you suggested and done a background check which may or may not have turned up anything.

Having one person over-seeing another in each case that money is handled is always a must.

As you said "Having one person over-seeing another in each case that money is handled is always a must."

But the org didn't do that which makes it partially their fault.

 

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I never touch the money. Have a treasurer handle it all. That person is of very sound personality and have their own money and has no issues financially. In fact, she's a money warden!!! Gotta love that!! Plus, its one less thing I gotta do!!! And we hand out financial statements to the entire team to show how and where it was spent. Total transparency!

 

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I wouldn't about travel teams. Athletic Associations and boosters which do the concessions or continuous fundraising and have a lot of receipts should have the double check.

 

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We experienced a similar problem with an organization some time ago, I had 2 daughters team fees and some league fees I paid for the organization and then they said the team ceased to exist. We spent a year in court getting our money back, but a number of players lost their fees around $400 and it wasn't worth all the trouble we went through for the other parents to get their money. The amount we did get back plus interest through the court system was significantly more than $400. We tried to warn people but unfortunately they continued to trick many more people out of team fees until they recently skipped town.

 

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I think it's far better to have 2 doing it. Guessing the vast majority of people who do things like this have a clean record, but got desperate for some reason and thought they could get away with it, thus background checks are probably useless.

I personally wouldn't want to be a treasurer unless someone else was also looking it over as well just to avoid any possibility of being accused of something in case the books don't add up.

It's a shame this lady chose to ruin her reputation for a measly $5000, but sadly it happens all too often. Having simple safeguards in place are like locking your doors, keeps the honest people honest.

 

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Sorry to state the obvious, but that just ****s! People work hard for the money to provide opportunities for their children like this. It's shameful that she would steal money that she didn't earn and was intended to benefit those kids.....

 

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Musty, I heard Uncle Carl might be stepping up to the plate and helping the girls.

If so, I'm eating UDF ice cream every day all summer long !!! :yahoo: Pineapple sherbert with Red Cream Soda as a float.

 

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It's a shame that a parent would go to such extremes but it happens. We heard rumors last year about this matter when her youngest DD played for the Softball Team, but we shrugged it off as rumor since they were originally from another county. Definitely not the case! You would never suspected anything if you were to meet this family in person, They just seemed like ordinary softball people. Nevertheless one is guilty and I hate the idea that this stigma could follow her family and youngest DD who is a solid pitcher for sometime to come.

FASTPITCH! Anything else, And you're playing to SLOW!

 

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i wouldn't about travel teams. Athletic associations and boosters which do the concessions or continuous fundraising and have a lot of receipts should have the double check.

amen!!

 

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This situation is not unusual.

A director of the boy's baseball league in Springfield IL. stole over $35,000. He went to prison.

 

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We had one local association get burned twice in 5 years by theft the first time for around $40,000. The first time they had no one watching the store, the second time I blame the people who believed a guy who said "Just make the checks out to me instead of the association and I'll make sure they get the money."

Our local association has a certified CPA for a treasurer, and she is directed by a second party who to cut checks to and has to have them approved/signed by that second party as well, so unless you get two bad apples in colusion you have some built in safeguards.

 

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I know some years ago, the fella who was the president of the boys/girls rec association where I grew up milked them for somewhere in the neighborhood of 50K. Was easy for him as his wife was the treasurer.

 

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It's a shame that a parent would go to such extremes but it happens. We heard rumors last year about this matter when her youngest DD played for the Softball Team, but we shrugged it off as rumor since they were originally from another county. Definitely not the case! You would never suspected anything if you were to meet this family in person, They just seemed like ordinary softball people. Nevertheless one is guilty and I hate the idea that this stigma could follow her family and youngest DD who is a solid pitcher for sometime to come.

FASTPITCH! Anything else, And you're playing to SLOW!

Yeah, I agree that this will probably follow her family around for some time and that is the unfortunate thing.I personaly got taken by her as well. In 2008 she organized a fall ball league in Mt. Orab that never developed. I sent her $350 for my team. Needless to say I never got it back. I heard she was arrested shortly there after so I never pursued getting my money back. It's sad that people get so desperate that they resort to stealing from others.

 

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Controls over money are sparse in baseball/softball organizations. You have a bunch of volunteers, each doing their part, but generally nothing more. You tend to rely on one person too much and they get tempted by the easy access to cash.
Requiring 2 signatures on the checks is an absolute must. That way it takes collusion to use them fradulently (Unless you have forgery also!)
And then the Treasurer should bring the bank statements to meetings for everyone to review and explain what all withdraws/checks are for.
A lot more can and should be done. But when you are dealing with a bunch of volunteers, at least these 2 things will generally keep everyone clean.

 

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everyone needs to ask "where did the money go and for what" no reputable treasurer would be offended by the request..