Tuesday, January 19, 2016

A Glimpse At Some Of The School Fraud That We Found

by Gary Snyder
1.     ·       Marksville (LA) high baseball (LA) coach has been sentenced for embezzling thousands of dollars from a group he use to work for.
2.     ·       The Janesville School District changed its money-handling procedures in response to the embezzlement of more than $300,000 from Craig High School over 10 years.
3.     ·       A former Independence High School secretary has pleaded guilty to a felony theft charge for embezzlement.
4.     ·       A school employee in Tazewell County (VA) has been sentenced to five years in prison on charges of embezzling more than $350,000 in school funding.
5.     ·       A Johnston High School (RI) science teacher is accused of embezzlement and counterfeiting for allegedly putting his name on checks made out to the school for student activities.
6.     ·       A former Florida State professor has been convicted of stealing $650,000 from a business school fund set up to teach students about investing.
7.     ·       A Tracy woman is accused of taking $48,979 from the kindergarten-through-eighth-grade school’s PTO fund and mismanaging a second PTO account belonging to the teachers while she was the PTO treasurer from July 19, 2010, to July 1, 2014.  She is a mother of a child in the district and a volunteer with the group
8.     ·       A Mississippi woman embezzled $12,000 Bay High School band students
9.     ·       A parent volunteer with the Sunnyside School District (WA) is accused of stealing thousands of dollars from the PTA.
10.  ·       A man is accused of embezzling up to $50,000 from a Midland (MI) preschool has entered into a plea agreement that could leave him with a misdemeanor.
11.  ·       The former transportation director for the Shaw School District (MS) pleaded guilty to one count of embezzlement.
12.  ·       A high school teacher in Rhode Island has been charged with embezzlement after allegedly putting his name on checks meant for school activities.
13.  ·       The former treasurer of the Kelly School Parent Teacher Organization (CA) is accused of embezzling $48,979 from the organization.
14.  ·       Former Laurel Christian School (MS) Headmaster pleaded guilty in court to his indicted charge of embezzlement in excess of $25,000
15.  ·       A former officer manager in Orange (CA) has been charged with embezzling up to $300,000 from a Catholic school fundraising program and using the cash for designer clothes and private school tuition.
16.  ·       Federal prosecutors said a former  South Carolina public charter school director used shell companies to embezzle more than $1 million in federal funds provided to the school for food and educational purposes.
17.  ·       A Glendale (AZ) high-school bookstore manager was indicted after state investigators claimed she had embezzled more than $70,000 through a skimming operation that lasted for years at Independence High School
18.  ·       A 20-year Decatur Schools employee has stepped down after she was charged with embezzlement 
19.  ·       Cumberland County authorities said that they have charged a former Parent Teacher Organization president with stealing from the group.
20.  ·       The former director of an East Lansing (MI) preschool has been charged with embezzling from the school.
21.  ·       A former Vermont principal of the year is facing charges of stealing from his current school.
22.  ·       A former Winslow (NH) woman pleaded guilty to embezzling thousands of dollars from a school sports team and a sports boosters’ club, while also stealing state welfare benefits.
23.  ·       A Sandy Ridge P.T.A. President is accused of stealing money from the elementary school.
24.  ·       A secretary at a Long Beach Catholic school was sentenced for stealing more than $260,000 from the school
25.  ·       The former president of the Grady A. Brown Elementary School PTA (CA) was arrested and charged with embezzlement
26.  ·       A former Northampton County (VA) School Board employee who said he “accidentally” sold items from the maintenance department on the Internet auction site eBay has pleaded guilty.
27.  ·       The former treasurer of the Carter High School Band Boosters Club pleaded guilty to embezzling more than $33,000 from club funds.
28.  ·       A former parent-teacher council treasurer wept as she told a judge how sorry she was for wiping out the annual budget of the organization in a year-long embezzlement scheme.
29.  ·       A Raleigh man was arrested on a charge that he stole more than $44,000 from a Cary school that helps children with developmental disorders.
30.  ·       A former Valencia High School (CA) varsity baseball coach faces felony charges he embezzled money from the school and from a baseball booster club over 6 years.
31.  ·       A former production manager for the Music, Dance and Theater Department at New Jersey City University was sentenced to three years in prison for embezzling $87,600 from the school.
32.  ·       The former treasurer of Mona Shores' Campbell Elementary School Parent Teacher Organization has been scheduled for a guilty or no-contest plea to embezzling $46,000 from the organization.
33.  ·       Former Harrisburg Area Community College Vice President Nancy Rockey was sentenced to 15 months in prison for stealing $233,000 from the school.
34.  ·       Ukiah Unified School District officials suspect the district’s adult school has lost $90,000 over three years because of embezzlement by a former employee.
35.  ·       A former Southern California school district accountant was recorded on video stuffing lunch money into her bra has been sentenced to five years in county jail for taking $1.8 million taken from the Rialto Unified School District over 8 years.
36.  ·       A former Harmony school secretary was arraigned on a felony charge accusing her of embezzling $23,823.44 from the Child Nutrition Fund. She was employed by Cushing Public Schools between August 2008 and February 2014.
37.  ·       A former College of Southern Idaho employee has been charged with grand theft after allegedly embezzling money from the school. She is accused of five felony counts. She allegedly stole $530,556.29 from the college over five years








Nonprofit Imperative gathers its information principally from public documents...some of which are directly quoted. Virtually all cited are in some phase of criminal proceedings; some have not been charged, however. Cites in various media: Featured in print, broadcast, and online media outlets, including: Charity Navigator, Vermont Public Radio, Miami Herald, National Public Radio (NPR), Huffington Post, The Sun News, Atlanta Journal Constitution, Wall Street Journal (Profile, News and Photos), “Betrayal”, (a movie), NBC (on Charity Fraud…TBD), FOX2, ABC Spotlight on the News, WWJ Radio, Marie Claire, Ethics World, Aspen Philanthropy Newsletter, Harvard Business Review, Current Affairs, Charity Navigator, The Chronicle of Philanthropy, St. Petersburg Times, Board Room Insider, USA Today Topics, Accountants News, Newsweek.com, Responsive Philanthropy Magazine, New York Times, Portfolio Magazine, The Virgin Islands Daily News, NANKAI (China) BUSINESS REVIEW, National Religious Broadcasters newsletter, The Charity Governance Blog, American Chronicle, Palm Beach Post, Detroit Free Press, Oakland Press, Nonprofit World, Socially Responsible Business Forum, PNNOnline, Ohio Nonprofit Resources, Nonprofit Good Practice Guide, Nonprofit Startup Guide, Nonprofit Blog, National Coalition of Homeless Newsletter, Finance and Administration Roundtable Newsletter, MichiganNonprofit.com, CORP! Magazine, Crain’s Michigan Nonprofit, ncrp.org, PhilanTopic, Nashville Free Press, Nonprofit Law Blog, Seniors World Chronicle, Carnegie Reporter, Assoc. of Certified Fraud Examiners Examiner, msnbc.com, Worchester (MA) Telegram and Gazette, Carnegie Corporation of America, EO Tax Journal, Wikipedia: Non-profit Organizations; Parent: Wise Austin, Accountants News, Veterans Today, Answers.com, Far-roundtable, #Nonprofit Report, nonprofithelpnews, nonprofit news; National Enquirer, Northwest Herald, The HelpWise Daily, The #Nonprofit Report, Wikipedia (Nonprofit Organization), Answers.com, Nonprofits: On the Brink (2006) Silence: The Impending Threat to the Charitable Sector (2011)

Saturday, January 16, 2016

Mid-January Nonprofit Imperative (Charity Fraud) E-Newsletter



Nonprofit Imperative
your nonprofit browser
January 2016
The monthly newsletter dedicated to:
  • exposing the crisis in nonprofit fraud leadership…a crisis of pervasive and monumental waste, fraud, abuse, mismanagement, and malfeasance throughout the charitable sector which costs taxpayers and contributors tens of billions of dollars annually; and,
  • seeking reforms that will restore the public’s lost confidence in the sector.
What’s Included:
Skunk of the Month:
American Red Cross Implosion?...more; Another Priest Theft
Charity Check Up:
Principal Takes $700,000; Massive Veterans Fraud
A Thought or Two:
Child Leukemia Fraud
Nonprofit News-In Case You Missed It:
Charity Mix-up in Florida: Field Museum; Salvation Army…more
Political/Official Chicanery:
DE; MS; OK; MI; VA; NC; NY; CA; MA; KY; IN; TX; WA; NM…more
What Do You Think?
·       To do good, donors must do their homework
·       Give without being taken

Only 15% of those surveyed say they have confidence in charities (Chronicle of Philanthropy, 10/15)

One in four Americans, or 25.3 percent, volunteered with an organization last year, according to the annual "Volunteering and Civic Life in America" report. Though the rate is down only slightly from 25.4 percent in 2013, it has been declining for the past decade.

“The average American household donated $2030 to favorite causes last year.” (Giving USA) … “…people waste billions of dollars on inefficient, poorly run, or downright fraudulent charities because they do not bother to research where their money is going,” (Liz Weston, Reuters.com)
Skunk of the Month…
Skunk of the Month is the twice-monthly designation made by Nonprofit Imperative, the organization dedicated to eliminating waste, fraud, abuse and mismanagement in nonprofits and government. The Skunk of the Month award is given to charities and government officials who show blatant disregard for the interests and trust of contributors and taxpayers. This month’s example is:
             “They came to do good and they did very well indeed (for themselves).”
American Red Cross Implosion? Reduction in revenues and other serious troubles…and more trouble
Under Gail McGovern, the Red Cross has slashed its payroll by more than a third, eliminating thousands of jobs and closing hundreds of local chapters. Many veteran volunteers, who do the vital work of responding to local fires and floods have also left, alienated by what many perceive as an increasingly rigid, centralized management structure.
In 2013, losses were mounting. The organization ran $70 million deficit that fiscal year and has been in the red ever since. Internal projections say the charity will not break even before 2017. But such projections have not served the organization well. All of this despite a projected billion-dollar jump in revenue, powered by expanded fundraising and growing profits from fees paid for CPR classes, swimming lessons and training materials.
Special government oversight of the charity’s blood-banking operation, which collects and sells blood to hospitals, has cost the organization tens of millions of dollars in fines. A federal judge ended two decades of such oversight. The blood unit, which is the Red Cross’ largest division, is a $100 million drag on the charity’s bottom line, in part because changes in medicine have sharply reduced the demand for blood. In its statement, the Red Cross pointed to those changes as the reason for the charity’s recent deficits.
When McGovern was hired as CEO, there were over 700 Red Cross chapters across the country. Today, there are around 250, though some former chapter offices stayed open even as they were folded into other chapters. The Red Cross declined to say how many offices it closed.
The number of paid employees fell from around 36,000 to around 23,000. Amid layoffs, bonuses given have raised eyebrows within the Red Cross, a former headquarters official said.
An internal survey obtained by ProPublica found volunteers around the country had a satisfaction rate of 32 percent this year — down 20 points from last year.
Between 2001 and 2008, the organization went through six interim or permanent leaders, several of whom departed amid allegations of mismanagement and misuse of donated funds.
In 2007, the Red Cross board, led by Bonnie McElveen-Hunter — a wealthy Republican donor appointed by President George W. Bush in 2004 — recruited Bush administration official Mark Everson as the CEO who would bring stability to the organization. Six months later, the board forced Everson out after the affair with his subordinate, touching off yet another round of embarrassing headlines.
Related problem: Rep. Bennie Thompson said it is “critical” for the Red glenn.trevisan@gmail.com
Cross to act quickly in response to problems reported by ProPublica. The key congressman who sits on a committee that oversees the American Red Cross is pressing the group’s chief executive for information about how layoffs and other cuts have affected its ability to respond to disasters. In a six-page letter , Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss, cites ProPublica’s recent reporting on Red Cross Chief Executive Gail McGovern as well as previous coverage by us and NPR on the charity’s responses to Superstorm Sandy and the 2010 Haiti earthquake. “Given the Red Cross’ important role in responding to both domestic and international disasters, it is critical that it acts quickly to address the serious problems ProPublica, NPR, and the GAO uncovered this year,” Thompson wrote, referring to a Government Accountability Office report that found the charity would benefit from more scrutiny from the federal government. Thompson has requested copies of any internal Red Cross after-action reports assessing the group’s responses to the recent Valley Fire in Northern California and disasters in West Virginia, which have been the subject of local criticism. For major disasters, the Red Cross typically produces after-action reports but does not release them to the public. On the international front, Thompson is requesting more information about what the Red Cross has done in Nepal following the April earthquake. McGovern recently wrote a blog post stating that the charity “played a leading role in supporting relief operations in Nepal.” Thompson has asked for details on how much money the Red Cross raised for Nepal and what it has been spent on. “How did the lessons learned from the Red Cross’ response to Haiti inform its activities in Nepal?” it continues.
OH NO!! Another Priest Named In A Huge Charity Theft
Just last month, Nonprofit Imperative had a story about a priest in Michigan that admitted to stealing almost $600,000 and was sentenced to 27 months in prison.
Now another Catholic priest is in the news having swiped collection-plate donations to pay for drug-fueled sex romps, “illicit and prescription drugs” a $264,000 home in Brick, NJ, and paid $1,075.50 a month for a East Harlem apartment, court papers say. In addition to skimming $20 bills from the collection plate there, Rev. Peter Miqueli ripped off money raised to buy a new pipe organ at his former church.
He also put sex friend in charge of the Cabrini thrift shop, where Miqueli “misappropriated and diverted money ... for his own personal use” and destroyed financial records to cover up the theft, the suit says.
The best guess is that he took $2 million from two parishes.
“Since day one of his arrival, everything has gone downhill,” a parishioner said. “From his bad attitude to his constant arrogance, this man is solely ruining one of the great Catholic parishes in the Bronx.
 “I would say the parish is a third to a half of what it was,” told The Post. “It’s the shell of the place it once was.”
The suit, which was filed in Manhattan Supreme Court also charges that the Archdiocese of New York and Cardinal Timothy Dolan knew about Miqueli’s “illegal scheme” and did nothing for a period of nine years. (nypost.com)
“Thus far, no evidence has been offered, and our forensic audit has thus far failed to uncover evidence of embezzlement,” said the Archdiocese of New York.
Charity Check Up:
Principal Takes $700,000 From Students
A former principal at Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder's reform school district and two others have been indicted by a federal grand jury on a slew of charges, including bribery, conspiracy, money laundering and tax evasion.
Principal Kenyetta Wilbourn Snapp and two contractors was filed in federal court. It is the latest black eye for the struggling Education Achievement Authority and portrays Snapp, a once high-rising, Maserati-driving principal known for carrying a bat in school hallways, as pocketing more than $58,000 in kickbacks.
Snapp hired a contractor to provide after-school tutoring for almost $700,000, according to court records and state documents 
Several other school officials are also under FBI scrutiny.
Charged alongside Snapp are:
  • Glynis Thornton owner and operator of Southfield-based M.A.D.E. Training & Consulting Inc., also known as Making a Difference Everyday. The company offered to provide public schools with after-school tutoring.
  • Paulette Horton an independent contractor who worked for Thornton and had her own consulting firm called Picking Up the Pieces Inc.
From October 2012 to October 2014, Thornton's firm was paid $695,634, according to state records. In return, Thornton paid Snapp kickbacks, according to the indictment.
Thornton disguised the payments by writing checks to Horton's company instead of paying Snapp directly, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office. Horton allegedly cashed the checks and gave the money to Snapp, the indictment alleges. Horton kept 10 percent of the cash and gave $58,050 to Snapp, according to the indictment.
Snapp occasionally even went with Horton to the bank and waited for her to cash the checks.
Snapp allegedly failed to report more than $26,000 worth of income during 2012 while Horton is charged with failing to file individual tax returns for 2011. (crainsdetroit)
The Detroit Public Schools district is more than $515 million in debt.
Another Massive Vets Charity Fraud
A former bookkeeper for the National Veterans Service Fund in Darien (CT) has pleaded guilty to charges related to her stealing about $800,000 from the organization.
She pleaded guilty to wire fraud and tax evasion offenses for her embezzlement.
The NVSF provides social services and medical assistance to veterans from the Vietnam and Persian Gulf wars, as well as their families.
Police said she started at NVSF in 2008 and was responsible for payroll and disbursement of funds to clients. She is accused of writing unauthorized checks to herself and family members for personal expenses, though she tried to cover it up by claiming the money was given to veterans in need.
The tax evasion charge is due to her not reporting the embezzled money on her federal tax returns, resulting in a federal tax loss of more than $270,000.
The theft spanned over five years, from January 2009 to June 2014.
Where was the Board; where were the audits?
A Thought or Two:
Child Leukemia Charity Closed After Millions Misused
New York State attorney general reached a settlement to permanently close a child leukemia charity- National Children's Leukemia Foundation- accused of fraud.
The attorney general will also recover $380,000 dollars from the foundation, most of which will be directed to charities helping children with leukemia. The founder forfeited claims to an additional $612,844 in back pay, in addition to a claim to a lifetime pension and other benefits.
The foundation collected $9.7 million from 2009 to 2013. Some 80 percent of the money went to telemarketing and direct-mail fundraising campaigns, and only $57,451 was paid out in direct cash assistance to leukemia patients.
The foundation also fraudulently claimed to have a bone marrow registry and cancer research building in Israel.
The president of the foundation, until his resignation in 2010, had been convicted of bank fraud in 1999. The foundation’s accountant took over as president, but the original founder and president continued to run things. He established the foundation in 1991 after losing a son to leukemia. He paid himself $595,000 in salary and $600,000 in deferred compensation from 2009 to 2013, and a lifetime pension of more than $100,000 a year.

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Nonprofit News…
In Case You Missed It:
1      The former chief financial officer at a Hyannis condominium association that ​serves adults with learning and intellectual disabilities pleaded guilty in Barnstable Superior Court on to embezzling more than $70,000.
2      Florida’s state-worker charity campaign took a major hit after revelations most of the money is going to a for-profit company, Solix, Inc. State employees rescinded 541 donations from the fall drive totaling $172,149 — nearly a quarter of the amount that would have been raised otherwise, according to figures from the Department of Management Services. The Florida State Employees’ Charitable Campaign totaled, as of Dec. 4, an anemic $545,003, its lowest tally in more than 30 years. Total donations, in payroll pledges and one-time gifts, dropped to 3,638, down from more than 10,000 just two years ago.
3      Chicago’s former Field Museum worker Caryn Benson admitted in federal court to stealing more than $400,000 from her longtime employer, but the U.S. attorney’s office contended the amount was over $900,000. She acknowledged pocketing cash payments that some museum patrons made for memberships between June 2008 and April 2014. She also admitted to, during that period, keeping cash patrons paid for drink tickets at special events at the natural history museum, such as the regular members' nights. Where were the auditors?
4      The former top official of the Operating Engineers Local 324 in Detroit was indicted by a federal grand jury on accusations of forcing employees to pay $5,000 per year into an election fund and spending the money for his daughter's wedding, expensive auto rims and to boost his own salary. In total, The oifficial is charged with embezzling or improperly spending more than $792,000 over several years. MORE: Report: The president of the Alaska Railroad Workers Union stole about $100,000 in union funds to pay for personal expenses.
5      The nonprofit that serves Denver residents with intellectual and developmental disabilities- Rocky Mountain Human Services-misused millions of dollars from taxpayers with few inquiries by the city, an audit released. Between January 2014 and June, RMHS overcharged the city $650,000 for administrative expenses. RMHS spent $48,000 on meetings in 2014, with most of that money going to meals for staff members. Former RMHS CEO Stephen Block, who was put on leave this year and eventually fired, received $478,974 in pay and benefits in 2014, more than double the next-highest executive of a comparable taxpayer-funded service nonprofit in Colorado. In addition to removing its top executive and former chief financial officer, RMHS has cut back perks and brought its budget — which was running a deficit. The audit put blame for the misuse of taxpayers' money on the city for not doing a better job of monitoring RMHS before Mares' demand for accountability.
6      A judge has ordered, through issuing a permanent injunction, that a gay-conversion nonprofit must close within 30 days. The New Jersey nonprofit was, in June, found to have violated consumer fraud laws, and a Hudson County jury had already awarded around $72,000 in damages to the plaintiffs. A State Superior Court Judge ordered Jews Offering New Alternatives for Healing (JONAH) to cease all operations within 30 days, also barring it from “engaging, whether directly or through referrals, in any therapy, counseling, treatment or activity that has the goal of changing, affecting or influencing sexual orientation, ‘same sex attraction’ or ‘gender wholeness.'”
7      The supposedly nonprofit Morristown Medical Center (owned by the Atlantic Health System) lost its tax-exempt status as it was operating like a for-profit hospital on almost every level. A judge pointed out that the medical center has various relationships with for-profit subsidiaries and owns several for-profit physician practices and other businesses The NJ court was “unable to discern between non-profit activities carried out by the Hospital on the Subject Property, and the for-profit activities carried out by private physicians.” It pays its CEO $5 million a year, completely unconscionable, said the judge.
8      A former top official with the British supermarket chain Asda admitted in court to steering some $263,000 from the company's charity fund to benefit a ballet troupe headed by his partner
9      A former Atlanta Salvation Army finance manager has pleaded guilty to embezzling more than $272,000 from the nonprofit over 4 years.
10   Universal Pictures had promised to donate a “portion” of DVD and Blu-ray sales for “Fast & Furious 6” to Walker’s Reach Out Worldwide nonprofit in 2014. That portion turned out to be less than 1 percent of the proceeds. Walker founded his charity in 2010 to help the victims of natural disasters, after participating in ­relief efforts in Haiti. Donations to Reach Out Worldwide totaled just $20,000 in 2010. It never registered with the California Attorney General’s Office as ­required. Reach Out Worldwide’s charitable giving was underwhelming. It distributed $81,269 to the victims of tornadoes in Arkansas and Oklahoma and the typhoon in the Philippines, its tax filings show.
11   The Internal Revenue Service improperly granted tax-exempt status to more than a third of nonprofits that used a new short-form application, according to the National Taxpayer Advocate’s annual report to Congress. The report suggested that the agency rubber-stamped applications rather than subjecting them to the most basic review. The IRS first offered the three-page form in July 2014 for organizations with gross revenue of $50,000 or less and assets of $250,000 or less. For qualifying applicants, it replaced a 26-page form. The agency said the new form would help reduce a backlog of applicants, while critics complained that the longer form helped weed out cheats. In a study of 408 nonprofits in 20 states, the advocate’s office found that 37 percent of applicants using the 1023-EZ application form did not meet the organizational test required of nonprofits. One-third of applicants did not provide an acceptable purpose clause, which defines the group’s mission, and 23 percent did not provide for an acceptable distribution of assets should the organization dissolve.
We flagged these few examples of charity misdeeds:
1.     Hunger Free Vermont hundreds of thousands
2.     Island Hospital Foundation $30,000
3.     Sequoyah Fund $900,000
4.     Cass County's Howard Township (MI) $28,000
5.     Hope Children’s Home (FL) $400,000+
6.     Downtown Pasco Development Authority  $90,000
7.     Conway Area Humane Society (NH) $10,000
8.     Kissito Healthcare Inc. $35,000
9.     Easter Seals el Mirador (NM) $30,000
10.  Coast to Coast Against Cancer (CN) $700,000
11.  Conway Area Humane Society (NH) up to $29,000
12.  Terry Duckworth Ministries $7300
13.  Local 415 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (IL) $31,000
14.  Quindocqua United Methodist Church (MD) $17,000
15.  My Brother's Keeper (MI) $20,000
16.  Independence High School (ID) $11,000
17.  Down Syndrome Network of Tampa Bay <$100,000
18.  Island Hospital Foundation (NY) about $300,000
Political/public official chicanery (just a few):
1      Former Terry Mayor Rod Nicholson has been sentenced to prison for $40,000 embezzlement.
2      A District Manager in Delaware County is accused of embezzling over $100,000 from a rural water district.
3      Three former Mississippi Department of Transportation employees were arrested for embezzlement of $12,000
4      The director of the Dona Ana County Detention Center was arrested morning as part of an embezzlement investigation, the sheriff said. He is facing charges of embezzlement over $20,000, fraud over $20,000, bringing contraband – specifically dangerous weapons – into the detention center and willful neglect of duty.
5      A former Tulsa police officer who was sentenced to 33 months in prison for embezzling ($419,000) from the state and local Fraternal Orders of Police has paid more than $306,000 in restitution and fines
6      The retired chief operating officer of the Wayne County Airport Authority (MI) faces felony larceny charges after he illegally collected hundreds of thousands of dollars from the county’s troubled pension plan.
7      A former fire chief has pleaded guilty to embezzling money from the Rivesville (VA) Volunteer Fire Department. He was given probation.
8      An estimate of alleged theft from the city of Kingman by an employee has escalated to $1.1 million-more than three times the amount noted at the start of an investigation and review of city records. It appears that a City credit card was used to pay for personal expenses as well as cash advances," the city statement said.
9       A New Hanover County (NC) Department of Social Services Employee was charged with 11 counts of embezzlement has been fired by the county.
10   Former N.Y. Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos and his son, Adam, were convicted on all counts Friday for shaking down more than $300,000 in payoffs by trading the father’s influence in Albany for no-show jobs and cash for his son.
11   Authorities have charged a 17-year employee of a southwestern Michigan county jail with embezzling roughly $75,000.
12   A former financial services director for the Association of Bay Area Governments pleaded guilty to a fraud charge in federal court in San Francisco and admitted to embezzling nearly $3.9 million from the agency. He pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud in the electronic transfer in 2014 of $1.3 million in stolen funds slated for public improvements related to a San Francisco development project. At the same time, he admitted during the plea that he stole an additional nearly $2.6 million related to a San Ramon project between 2011 and January of this year, making the total theft close to $3.9 million.
13   A former Tax Collector resigned abruptly in May 2014 after 25 years in the town post, was indicted in Worcester (MA) Superior Court on charges of embezzling more than $500,000, according to a Worcester District Attorney
14   A former Lakeland (TN) city employee is behind bars, accused of stealing almost $6,000 from the city.
15   A former Madison County (KY) official has pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court to charges that she stole $332,524 from a federally funded program. The government says the money was taken between 2007 and 2015 when he was finance officer for the Madison County Chemical Stockpile Emergency Preparedness Program. That program educates and enhances emergency preparedness in communities surrounding the chemical weapons stockpile stored at Blue Grass Army Depot
16   A former LaPorte county auditor will be sentenced for embezzlement. Prosecutors say Mary Ray, 67, stole more than $150,000 in government funds and defrauded her father-in-law of at least $400,000.
17   The Blanchard Community Library in Santa Paula (CA) has settled with a former auditor hired to review the library's accounts at a time when at least $470,000 was allegedly stolen. A former financial officer at the library activities could have been detected sooner if the auditor had done a better job of auditing the library's accounts.
18   The executive director of the Deep East Texas Council of Governments schemed with his wife and daughter to illegally divert more than $1.3 million in federal grant money intended for hurricane assistance, federal prosecutors said
19   The wife of the Lancaster (OH) mayor-elect embezzled about $350,000 from her employer, a veterans post and a nonprofit group to support a gambling addiction. She took $300,498 from her former brother-in-law’s company and more than $50,000 from American Legion Post 11 in Lancaster, where she was the bookkeeper and, she embezzled money from the Cameo League, a volunteer group associated with the Lancaster Festival, for which she served as treasurer in 2012. The amount is unknown.
20   The former director of the Downtown Pasco (WA) Development Authority has pleaded guilty to embezzling an estimated $90,000 from the agency.
21   Authorities arrested two men suspected of embezzling more than $180,000 from New Mexico Senate Pro Tem Mary Kay Papen’s personal, campaign and government accounts.

Since 2010, National Legal and Policy Center has helped expose one corrupt New York politician after another.  Here’s the scorecard:
• New York State Senator John Sampson was convicted on July 24 of obstruction of justice. A former Senate Majority Leader, he was charged with embezzlement, obstruction of justice and making false statements to the FBI. He allegedly embezzled $440,000 from escrow accounts on foreclosed properties. The Sampson investigation reportedly was prompted by media coverage of NLPC’s scrutiny of U.S. Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-NY) and his political network.
• On July 1, former New York State Senator Malcolm Smith was sentenced to seven years in prison after his conviction for bribery, extortion, and wire fraud. His conviction resulted from a scheme to bribe Republican officials to allow Smith to run for New York City mayor as a Republican. The Smith investigation was reportedly prompted by media coverage of NLPC’s scrutiny of New Direction Local Development Corporation (described below), of which Smith and Meeks were founders.
• On February 2, 2015, Albert Baldeo, a Meeks associate, and Democratic Party leader in New York City, was sentenced to 18 months in a federal penitentiary following his conviction for obstructing justice. He reported phantom donors to his unsuccessful 2010 City Council campaign in order to qualify for taxpayer matching funds. The scheme was described in a New York Post story of October 2011, based on information provided by NLPC.
•  On September 10, 2014, Melvin E. Lowe, a New York political consultant, was found guilty of conspiring with State Senator John Sampson of Brooklyn to defraud the New York Senate Democratic Campaign Committee out of $100,000. Sampson and Lowe were caught up in an investigation prompted by NLPC's scrutiny of Meeks.
•  New York City Councilman Ruben Wills was arrested on May 7, 2014. He is accused of looting a nonprofit group he controlled that was the recipient of taxpayer funds. At the time, Mills was Chief of Staff to State Senator Shirley Huntley (D-Queens) who was convicted and imprisoned for a similar scheme that was exposed by NLPC.
• On December 5, 2013, Dr. Dorothy Ogundu was arrested on the basis of information provided to the New York Post by NLPC. A Nigerian-born physician, Ogundu ran a fake health clinic in Queens, New York. She was accused of stealing $370,000 from twelve separate government grants. She was a prominent donor to Meeks, who secured $380,500 in earmarked funds for the fake clinic.
• In January 2013, former State Senator Shirley Huntley was convicted of fraud. In March 2011, a New York Post article, based on info provided by NLPC, exposed a sham charity she founded called The Parents Workshop, to which she steered taxpayer money. An aide and her niece helped her siphon off $87,000. Huntley was arrested in August 2012 and spent a year in prison.
• On July 28, 2012, the New York Times published a front-page story based on information provided by NLPC. The article spotlighted a “mysterious donor” named Bob Williams who made $900,000 in political contributions despite having no visible means of support. Williams vanished after the article. (nlpc.org)

Readers, weigh in as to what you think…please continue the tips (they are very helpful) gary.r.snyder@gmail.com
Nonprofit Imperative gathers its information principally from media sources...some of which are directly quoted. Virtually all cited are in some phase of criminal proceedings; some have not been charged, however there is money missing. These incidents include only a fraction of the estimated $40 billion of charity crimes. On rare occasions, there may be duplicates.
We’re noticed: Cites in various media:
Featured in print, broadcast, and online media outlets, including: Charity Navigator, Washington Post, National Enquirer, The Patriot-News, Vermont Public Radio, Miami Herald, New York Times, National Public Radio, Huffington Post, The Sun News, In Touch, Atlanta Journal Constitution, Wall Street Journal (Profile, News and Photos), FOX2, ABC Spotlight on the News, WWJ Radio, msnbc.com, Marie Claire, Ethics World, Tactical Philanthropy, Aspen Philanthropy Newsletter, Harvard Business Review, Current Affairs, The Chronicle of Philanthropy, St. Petersburg Times, Board Room Insider, USA Today Topics, Accountants News, Newsweek.com, Responsive Philanthropy Magazine, , Portfolio Magazine, The Virgin Islands Daily News, NANKAI (China) BUSINESS REVIEW, National Religious Broadcasters newsletter, The Charity Governance Blog, American Chronicle,  Palm Beach Post, Detroit Free Press, Oakland Press, Nonprofit World, Socially Responsible Business Forum, PNNOnline, Ohio Nonprofit Resources, Nonprofit Good Practice Guide, Nonprofit Startup Guide, Nonprofit Blog,  National Coalition of Homeless Newsletter, The Michigan Nonprofit Management Manual, MichiganNonprofit.com, CORP! Magazine, Crain’s Michigan Nonprofit, ncrp.org, PhilanTopic, Nashville Free Press, Nonprofit Law Blog, Seniors World Chronicle, Carnegie Reporter, Assoc. of Certified Fraud Examiners Examiner, Worchester (MA) Telegram and Gazette, Carnegie Corporation of America, EO Tax Journal, Wikipedia: Non-profit Organizations; Parent: Wise Austin, Accountants News, Veterans Today, VPR News, National Enquirer,
  • Silence: The Impending Threat to the Charitable Sector (Xlibris, 2011)
…”This book should be read by everyone. It will send a shiver down the reader's spine to think that people with little money to spare have given generously…”
  • Nonprofits: On the Brink (iUniverse, 2006)
  • The Michigan Nonprofit Management Manual, Governance Section
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Gary Snyder is the author of Silence: The Impending Threat to the Charitable Sector (Xlibris, June, 2011) and Nonprofits: On the Brink (iUniverse, February, 2006) and articles in numerous publications. The book can be bought at amazon.com, barnesandnoble.com, Barnes and Noble (store)
© Gary R. Snyder, All Rights Reserved, 2016