Former Sun Prairie School Board president charged with embezzlement

Wisconsin State Journal ^ | 2-9-12 | Ed Treleven

[afraidfortherepublic]

The former president of the Sun Prairie School Board was charged with theft Thursday for allegedly stealing more than $10,000 from Sun Prairie Youth Football over a five-year period, using the money to pay the property taxes on his home and buy merchandise from stores.

David A. Stackhouse, 50, who now lives in Springfield, Pa., was charged with one count of theft in a business setting, for allegedly taking $10,254 between July 2003 and November 2008.

Stackhouse was Sun Prairie Youth Football's president from 1999 until 2008, when his bid for re-election was defeated.

He was a member of the Sun Prairie School Board from 2005 until he was defeated in April 2011 and had also served as the board's president.

Sun Prairie Youth Football (SPYF) is a program to teach the sport to children in grades five through eight. Its team plays games against other youth teams, mostly in Dane County.

Stackhouse is scheduled to appear in court on Feb. 23.

[afraidfortherepublic]

This is just another addition to my personal collection of stories that should make us very careful about whom we choose to manage our funds. In the past five years I've read stories about theft in so many "volunteer" programs that my head swims. I had to hire someone to manage Accounts Payable and Accounts Receivable for my small company a few years back. Out of 20 resumes I received, 3 seemed worthy of interviews. It turned out that 2 of the 3 had "theft from employer" in their backgrounds. I hired the third, and she turned out to be a nut. I do it all myself now.

[afraidfortherepublic]

Wisconsin Embezzle from Community Programs ping list

If you want on, or off, this Wisconsin interest ping list, please FReep mail me.

[Tainan]

This theft/embezzlement from 'Youth Programs' is something I see in the news very regularly.
As to the shady book-keeper problem; the general public has no idea how bad this problem actually is.
I'm willing to be that if someone goes around to the local office park or industrial park and asks the business owners about this that probably 75% have suffered from bookkeeper theft.
One sad thing I've seen is that most of them are really good with cooking the books and moving the money. They can show the boss what he wants to see. And then they are gone before he knows what hit him...and his business.

I've personally seen a small business bookkeeper writing check to her husbands powder coating business for 10 + years and the owner had no idea. She kept him happy with his bad practices(he would take money out of the business off the books) and he never knew until she died. I got into her computer and found all of her deeds going back for 5 yrs. He sued her husband and settled without involving the law.
This is what mostly happens. Small business owners tend to be very independent (some would ego is involved) and hate to admit they trusted someone who turned out to be a thief.

[submarinerswife]

I did bookkeeping work for several years, There are certain things that would make this really hard for a thief to steal. The one who accepts payment doesn't deposit. The one who deposits, doesn't reconcile the statements. The owner is the only person allowed on the account to sign checks and they make sure that they check the bank statements with photocopies of the checks, automatic withdraws and payroll accounts (especially).

I took 2 jobs after other persons had embezzled from the owners of small businesses. I don't like working for people who had been stolen from.

[afraidfortherepublic]

Wisconsin also was home to the Queen of the Embezzlers:

http://www.businessinsider.com/meet-the-woman-who-stole-31-million-from-koss-corp-2010-1

http://www.jsonline.com/business/81902887.html

My husband and I keep asking ourselves, “How in the world could a business not miss $31 million?” Koss had to be tipped off by American Express about the major theft going on. Now they are suing American Expepress for not tipping them off sooner. Geeesh!

Of course small business is different from charitable and community orgs. I’ve seen cases where goods donated to Family Sharing was sold out the back door and the manager pocketed the money personally. I’ve seen cases where the PTA president pocketed donated funds to pay for her gambling. I know of multiple cases where coaches diverted athletic funds to their own uses.

Then there are all the cases where municipal clerks pocket the dog license fees. (Never pay cash there.)

[Elle Bee]

The felonious Florida Keys - the comments are better than the stories:

.

[knittnmom]

Maybe I need to take a break from the news. My first reaction was relief that no physical abuse of minors occurred!!

[afraidfortherepublic]

Isn’t that the truth! LOL

(I refuse to watch any news coverage of the Powell murders because it’s too horrible to contemplate from any angle. I just can’t bear it. And the next FReeper who says that some cute little teacher is “hot” because she slept with a student will get a punch in the nose from me, if I can find him.)

[TheConservativeParty]

The “used the money to pay property taxes” part is just great. Our WI school tax has confiscated nearly as much as or farm cost, after living here and paying property tax for 15 years. I hate the property tax more than any other oppressive tax. It may literally make us lose our home someday. Our local school tax still went up this year. They did a dirty deal with the teachers and signed a 3 year contract before the budget fix went into effect.

[afraidfortherepublic]

Isn’t that the truth. I have paid almost as much in taxes in 25 years as my place cost. My taxes went down a little bit this year but that was only because they were forced to reduce my assessment because of the market. So, that is a 2 edged sword.