Lady Stole $25K From Little League Then 'Accidentally' Spent it on Fast Food, Cigarettes

A 50-year-old mother of six who embezzled more than $25,000 from her children's Southeast Portland Little League was sentenced Thursday to 45 days in jail and ordered to pay back the money she stole.

Lonnie Annette Reedy was so trusted by other parents that she became president of Taborvilla Little League, but investigators believe she was secretly frittering away the youth organization's money on fast food, airline tickets and other personal items from 2007 to 2013, investigators say. The money that Reedy took was hard-earned by kids selling candy bars and pepperoni sticks door to door, concession-stand profits, registration fees, sponsorships from local businesses and tournament proceeds, said Shawna Bolles, now president of the youth baseball organization. Bolles said Little League's board had asked Reedy repeatedly to provide printed records of the organization's financial accounts, but Reedy kept making excuses for why she couldn't produce them. After about a year of excuses, Bolles said she went to the bank herself and asked for a printout of account activity. That's when Bolles discovered that Reedy had been stealing, Bolles said. Bolles said she later learned that Reedy used it to go shopping at a nail salon, discount cigarette store, fast-food restaurants and more. Reedy also bought airline tickets for relatives and made a purchase from a home-shopping TV network on a Little League card, claiming that was an accident, Bolles said. "It's really hard to accept that she only received 45 days, but we're grateful that she received something," Bolles said. "We're grateful that it's over because it's been a very stressful 13 months for the league." [...] Authorities say she stole at least $25,000 over seven years but she was accused only of thefts in 2012 and 2013 because the statute of limitations was up on some of the previous thefts. In addition to jail time, Multnomah County Circuit Judge Greg Silver sentenced Reedy to three years of formal probation, 240 hours of community service and a drug evaluation and possible treatment. As part of her plea agreement, the judge placed three years of restrictions on Reedy: She must notify all potential employers of her theft convictions and she can't work in a position involving the handling of money without her probation officer's permission.
source: The Oregonian