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Joint investigation under way into more than $14K missing from youth programs.
PLYMOUTH – A borough police officer said joint investigations with the state into the disappearance of more than $14,000 from two borough youth sports organizations’ funds are progressing, albeit slowly.
Officer Ryan Williams said he has been working with a special investigator from the Pennsylvania Department of State’s Bureau of Charitable Organizations on suspected thefts from the Plymouth Shawnee Indians football league and the Plymouth Youth Soccer league.
News of the suspected theft from the football league surfaced in May, when league officials had a closed-door meeting with parents to tell them that a bank account the league had been using was $1,726.87 in the red.
According to minutes from a May 5 regular meeting, the treasurer’s report at that time said the league had a balance of $9,968.62. Bill Dixon, who became acting treasurer after the money went missing, said police would investigate whether the entire difference of $11,695.49 was stolen or if some went to pay bills.
Williams said he has been working with the special investigator on the football league case as well as a case reported earlier involving the disappearance of at least $2,500 from the soccer league. He said officials from both leagues became aware of the financial irregularities in similar ways.
“Bills went unpaid for months and months. … Creditors started calling and that’s how they got tipped off,” Williams said,
Williams said there is a different person of interest in both of the investigations, but he declined to name the individuals unless charges are filed. He said it could take several more months to complete the investigations, noting that there are similar investigations going on throughout the state, and they are addressed by state investigators in the order in which they are reported.
“The investigations are still very much active. But these types of investigations move slowly, and they have to. You don’t want to miss anything,” Williams said.
Williams said he understands that “people get concerned and aggravated and think things are getting swept under the rug when there’s nothing happening, but that’s very far from the truth.”