Embezzlement of Sorority Funds Alleged (U of the Pacific, Alpha Phi)
 

See

http://www.mercurynews.com/breaking-...nclick_check=1

This kind of thing isn't an everyday occurrence, but it's certainly not unheard-of for an alum to embezzle funds. Sometimes I think the old "X-Files" motto needs to be followed when there's money involved: "Trust No One."


Edited to add:

A few more details are in another report at

http://www.recordnet.com/apps/pbcs.d...08/-1/A_NEWS07

Excerpts from the report linked immediately above:

. . . She fell under suspicion at a February meeting, when Lee refused to give detailed financial information of the sorority. Board president, Jayme McKown, called police.

Up to the morning when Lee was to hand over her accounting records to the forensic auditor, Lee was altering entries . . . .

"It was easier".

Dumb bitch. I would be beyond pissed if the money I paid to my chapter were used for an adviser's landscaping and manicures.

ETA: How do you "lose track" of the fact that you've taken $100,000+?

First link is broken.

It still works for me:

http://www.mercurynews.com/breaking-...nclick_check=1

Maybe it's just me, but I click on it and get redirected to secure.www.greekchat.com

For the story, I find it strange there was no fail safes. Even on the undergraduate level my chapter required all checks above a certain amount to be signed by both the president and treasurer.

Okay, here's another idea:

Try going to

http://www.mercurynews.com/breaking-news

Look at list of stories that shows up. Click on the one about " Union City woman" and "embezzlement." Maybe that will work?

I found that odd, too. IIRC our checks had to be signed by either the president or VPF and the financial adviser or chapter adviser...but always by two individuals.

This is how it should be to be able to be bonded. Collegians rarely understand why we do this. I often think they believe it's so they can't go spend all the money. They don't understand that it also protects their funds. One of the things we look at in a financial review is to make sure there are no pre-signed checks because it's "easier" to have one person (either alumna or collegian) sign a few checks ahead to reduce how often the two have to meet to sign them. It was fairly common back in my day to pay cash for dues also. It's very easy to just pilfer cash, especially if receipts are not issued immediately. This is one huge advantage to using Omega Fi.

I think I would have been more confused if two people didn't have to sign checks because that's just common sense. As a member paying dues I would have been upset if I knew the VPF could sign off on whatever she wanted with no system of checks and balances. And as this example shows it isn't just the collegians that need checks and balances.

AGREEhttp://www.greekchat.com/forums/ubb/icons/icon13.gif

The same way my client claimed he didn't do his homework because he had 'nesia.

Or when anyone who gets subpoena'd these days "does not recall" a single thing.

Unfortunately for her, money leaves a trail.

It is frighteningly simple. During my time as chapter advisor there was a time when alumni poured in substantial funds to improve chapter conditions. This offer was extended contingent upon a trusted alumnus, me in this case, having control of the chapter's checkbooks for six months.

If I had been so inclined, I could have easily stolen six figures in that time with noone the wiser before I was long gone.

Granted this was a fraternity where there are generally fewer controls over operations than one finds in sororities, but at a school like Texas when you have a large sorority or fraternity with 150+ members paying dues and rent (with the rent usually paid to a housing corporation that already owns outright the chapter house)- the annual budget is larger than many small companies. We are talking an annual intake of funds that often exceeds $1,000,000.

Stealing a sizeable sum of money in such circumstances is quite possible unless there are many watchful eyes.

When debit cards first came out my grad chapter voted not to have a debit card for our chapter account because we recognized the potential abuse.

It is better to have at least two people on the account.

Hahaha, someone PMd me to show me this from OmegaFi's site:
"Had this chapter had the financial controls in place offered by our Vault Billing & Collections and Vault BillPay, this would have never happened. Thanks to AGDEE who recognized us on Greekchat.com."
http://websites.omegafi.com/omegaws/...of-embezzling/

Greekchat, we're truly on people's radar..lol!

^^^ LMAO!!!!

GC runs the world!

Another recent report, this one allegedly involving Gamma Phi funds and a Penn State card:

http://wrta.com/page.php?page_id=59118

37 year old Heather Miller . . is accused of taking cash and using a Penn State purchasing card for personnel (sic) gain.

According to Penn State University police, the former Altoona Campus administrative assistant in the Office of Student Life stole more than $30,000.

Court documents show that among the laundry list of allegations against Miller, she is accused of using Gamma Phi Beta sorority funds and her Penn State purchasing card to pay for a five-day vacation at Disney World.
Miller, free on $25,000 unsecured bail, has a preliminary hearing scheduled Wednesday.

Many more details are in the following:

http://www.altoonamirror.com/page/co...d.html?nav=742

Excerpts:

. . . According to court documents, Miller allegedly pocketed $12,206.50 from the Gamma Phi Beta sorority's account during the 2009-10 school year, another $8,681 during the 2008-09 school year . . .

Miller, who was an adviser for the Gamma Phi Beta sorority, also took her family in June to the sorority's national convention in Orlando, Fla., and that she used sorority funds and her Penn State purchasing card to fund her five-day stay at Disney World, court documents state. Police claim Miller bought $1,250 worth of Disney gift cards that she used to buy four five-day passes to the amusement park.

Miller took $276 from another sorority, . . . and was double reimbursed for airfare after she attended a Gamma Phi Beta sorority convention in Phoenix in 2006. Miller also allegedly took $225 from the sorority meant for a mother/daughter banquet at a local restaurant, court documents state. . . .

^^Just to clarify, this is at the branch campus in Altoona, not at the main campus at State College. They are two completely separate Gamma Phi Beta chapters. This chapter is a lot younger and I'm wagering has a lot less $$ to weather something like this.

I'm disgusted. Please, Gamma Phis, tell me she's been kicked out of the sorority.

Update on U of the Pacific Alpha Phi Embezzlement Articles

http://www.recordnet.com/apps/pbcs.d...315/-1/NEWSMAP

Excerpt from ^:

November 10, 2010 12:00 AM
STOCKTON - A former University of the Pacific student charged with embezzling thousands of dollars from her sorority pleaded no contest Tuesday in San Joaquin County Superior Court.

In a negotiated plea deal . . . Lina Lee, 39, will pay back $38,000 to the Alpha Phi, Iota Gamma Chapter, and spend 60 days on house arrest with an electronic ankle monitor.

In six months, she will appear again before . . . Judge Franklin Stephenson, and if she has met her end of the bargain, the judge said he will turn her felony grand theft charge to a misdemeanor conviction.

Lee . . . was accused in September of taking as much as $114,507 from the sorority while serving on its board. She paid back much of it before investigators caught up with her.

Our Financial Advisor (when I was an active) had been stripped of her pin years efore I was even a pledge. Somehow, she was able to plead her case in time to become our Financial Advisor. At the time, we had roughly a half-million in our Housing Corporation fund, not bad when (almost) everyone has a University suite. Two years later, it was discovered that there were NO funds left, and she is no longer a sister - again. My chapter went from having the most beautiful suite on campus to "bunker chic" within a few years.

I often wonder what I'd do if I ever ran into this rat!

Please tell me someone gave her a good old fashion beat down! :mad:

.

I posted this yesterday, but deleted it because I wanted to make sure I wasn't saying the wrong thing...but it sounds like you got the same email I did, but it was NOT from OmegaFi - it was from WePay. Did your email look like the one below?

Sunglasses and fake mustaches...how professional! :rolleyes:

Yes it did actually!

I retract my previous comment on OmegaFi! I didnt read through the email carefully enough.