More than $100,000 stolen from Jeffco kids' sports league

April M. Washington, Rocky Mountain News

Published October 10, 2007 at midnight

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LITTLETON — Gary Losh vowed to help "right the ship" a day after revealing to angry parents in the South Jeffco Sports Association that a trusted employee is accused of stealing more than $100,000 from the youth league.

Losh, board president, said the association is in no danger of folding and that a $25,000 insurance policy should cover the losses.

"We'll have to rob Peter to pay Paul for a while," he said. "The theft has been going for some time. We now know where our deficit was coming from."

The league, one of the largest in the metro area, includes four sports and serves about 4,000 athletes, and brings in about $600,000 in fees annually.

The Jefferson County Sheriff's Office is investigating the felony theft.

Losh and investigators would not identify the suspect, but said the employee has stolen $107,000 over a two-year period.

The association's board had discovered the theft of funds on Sept. 14 after coming across several forged checks.

"The last three weeks we were digging and looking," Losh said. "I'm deeply troubled because it was a friend of mine. It hurts. It just hurts."

Dozens of parents of players expressed shock and anger when they were told about the theft Tuesday night during a meeting.

Parents demanded to know how one-sixth of league's annual budget could be stripped away over a two-year period without someone noticing.

"It's pretty pathetic," said Gena Fowler. "I hope they find who did it, and keep it from happening again."

Jenn Moss, another parent, decried the employee's actions, saying he or she took from little kids.

"If that's what they need to do, is take from little kids, I feel really sorry for them," she said.

The league's board took steps to prevent the theft of funds in the future, including requiring all money transactions to be signed and approved by the league's president and treasurer.

Losh said the employee has expressed remorse, and is working with authorities and the board to reach a settlement.

The person worked full time for the league, one of the largest in the metro area, and had stolen from two accounts, Losh said.

The employee had access to one account, but not the association's operating account.

Losh said investigators are trying to determine how the employee gained access to the league's operating account.

The employee began stealing money to address some financial problems, Losh said.

"It's been going on two years, but it got really bad in the last year," Losh said. "The beginning stages the person stole because of a family financial-desperation type of thing. It was out of character for the individual."

CBS4's Shaun Boyd reported this story.

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