Big Island Pop Warner Club Funds Stolen – $150,000

[Guest]

quote:

---

Originally posted by reni

and how do we fare as a society if charges are not brought against the thief or thieves?

---

The perfect question.

And lets not forget, ANYONE else who knew.

Further, I partially hold the Bank this account was held at responsible.

Clearly this money was stolen thru conversion of Club Funds thru a Bank.

The Bank should have detected the nefarious activity and reported it.

[reni]

bumping this..........as I believe it really matters to our kids and our society....
is there any news on indictments?

[opihikao]

Update: (*Snipped - More at link)

Ex-Little League boss admits embezzlement

A former president of Hilo Little League has pleaded guilty in federal court to embezzling tens of thousands of dollars in league funds, plus money from two youth soccer teams, a pageant organization and a car repair and alignment shop. According to the plea agreement, Cheryl L. Octavio, a former Bank of Hawaii business banking officer, “willfully stole, embezzled, and misapplied funds entrusted to Bank of Hawaii’s custody and care.”

The plea agreement states that Octavio, who has no prior criminal record, could be sentenced to up to 30 years in prison, fined up to $1 million and receive up to five years of supervised release, the federal equivalent of probation, for “theft, embezzlement, or misapplication by a bank officer or employee.”

The 43-year-old Octavio, who is free on $25,000 bond, is scheduled to be sentenced April 28 at 3 p.m. by U.S. District Judge Susan Oki Mollway in Honolulu. Terms of her plea deal allow her to appeal her sentence. “All you can do in federal cases is build the factors you believe favor your client into the plea agreement,” Marcus Sierra, Octavio’s Honolulu-based attorney, said last week. “So you’ll see factors in there like the government’s agreeing that she took responsibility early. The government’s agreeing on the amount that’s lost in the case. … So there’s now more flexibility for the defense to present a good argument … for less incarceration time.”

The document states that between about Dec. 17, 2009, and Nov. 7, 2012, Octavio stole at least $22,627.09 from Hilo Little League accounts, at least $13,969.43 from Big Island Futbol Club, dba Haaheo Soccer Club, accounts, at least $4,873 from Na Hoa O Puna soccer club’s account, at least $4,491.38 from Lehua Hawaii Productions account, and $10,000 from East Hawaii Auto Center’s account. Octavio, who was indicted on Aug. 7, 2013, pleaded guilty on Nov. 21. She is to make restitution to the bank under terms of her deal.

In November 2010, Octavio received a silver award from the U.S. Small Business Association for her work for Bank of Hawaii. Naomi Campbell, Little League district administrator for Hawaii and Maui counties, said she suspected something was awry with Hilo Little League’s books starting in 2011. “I would ask for documents and the numbers didn’t make sense. I wouldn’t get the numbers on time; there was procrastination,” she said. “So I asked (former Hilo Little League information officer) Marcie Greenwell if she would be courageous enough to step up to the plate and ask for an internal audit, which at the district level I’m not immediately allowed to do. … And I thank her for that.”

Campbell said that she then took over the investigation. “I came up with $30 thousand, but that more or less includes things that I knew were not appropriate disbursements. The FBI’s Greg Tomonaga, who was excellent to work with, went with strictly what could be proven. That amount was $22 thousand,” Campbell said. The embezzled funds are covered by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., and Campbell said the bank, “who was really good to us,” reimbursed the league $30,000. “They paid us in advance.

I asked them to do so because the league did not have any funds to start up the 2014 season. That’s how bad it was,” she said adding that over the past two years, HLL has “struggled with funds to meet certain requirements and/or purchasing uniforms, equipment, etc.” Campbell said that Hilo Little League is “slowly rebuilding.”

See more at: http://westhawaiitoday.com/news/local-ne...ZjDvr.dpuf

[lavalava]

Once again justice in Hawaii is best served by the federal court system!

[jrw]

Its to bad this happen at least the groups got thier money back since it happen at the bank.Those pop warners kid will never see a penny of thier money so sad.

jrw

[birdmove]

And may the swindling crook, Cheryl L. Octavio, have many thousands of LONG days and nights to consider what she did to others.

Jon in Keaau/HPP