Fraud specialists at Coquitlam RCMP are warning local sports teams and charitable groups to be vigilant about who has access to their bank accounts as they investigate allegations more than $226,000 has gone missing from Coquitlam Little League.
“When large sums of money are at play, you need to make sure that checks and balances are in place,” said Corporal Jason Tran of the department’s economic crime unit that is investigating the problem at the baseball organization.
In 2012, a Richmond soccer mom was jailed for defrauding Richmond Youth Soccer Association of more than $200,000.
Debbie Judd siphoned off at least $204,070 between 1998 and 2003 by writing cheques to herself when she was treasurer of the non-profit, volunteer-run club.
Last Friday, Coquitlam Little League president Sandon Fraser revealed the funding shortfall in a message to parents. He said the discovery was made when the organization started getting enquiries about refunds for the cancellation of the spring season because of the COVID-19 pandemic, adding those reimbursements should have happened between May 12 and June 26.
Fraser said when the group started looking into the reason for the delay in issuing refunds, it discovered its bank account totalled less than $3,000 instead of the $229,971.31 its financial records said should have been there. He said an independent accounting firm is also examining the league’s books.
Tran said while it’s too early in the investigation to reveal details like the amount of money that is missing, he said the RCMP team has “a good starting point” and is expecting to make progress.
“Fraud investigations are often complex,” he added. “We will not be releasing the name of any suspect or suspects unless we reach a point where the BC Prosecution Service approves charges.”
In the Richmond case, Les Mackoff, Judd’s lawyer, said Judd was writing cheques to herself over the years which far exceeded what she had spent and was able to continue the crude practice because RYSA had "no internal safeguards and no real oversight."
"She got in slowly and then got deeper and deeper and had no idea of the extent of the fraud," he said at the time.
It was just a year ago when Coquitlam Little League was on top of the world as its All-Star team competed at the famed Little League World Series in Williamsport, Penn. Earlier in the summer, it won the provincial and Canadian championships.
The league will be holding a virtual conference to bring parents up to date on Aug. 22, at 10 a.m.
- with files from Mario Bartel/Tricity News
