A past treasurer of the Goodrich Sports Boosters is suspected of embezzling $50,000 from the group’s account.
The suspect, Tonya Ann Yannaki, 46, of Linden, was lodged in the Genesee County Jail on Wednesday on felony charges of embezzlement after she confessed to taking the money between October 2005 and September 2007.
Sgt. Joe Parks of the Genesee County Sheriff’s Department said the suspect reportedly needed the money due to a divorce she was going through and was in the process of relocating.
The suspect told Parks that about $10,000 was already paid back to the boosters, and she had intended to return the rest of the money.
Parks said that when the boosters president, Chrys Tangney, asked for a financial report, Yannaki stopped going to the meetings and could not produce a report. The missing money was then reported to the Genesee County Sheriff’s Department on Oct. 1. The sports boosters are the volunteers who help raise money for Goodrich High School sports including hockey, football and cheerleading, or any sports group in the school.
‘It’s a shame it happened and it’s an embarrassment,? said Tangney. ‘We raised money through bingos on Friday nights and now we will work as hard as we can to recoup the money lost and replenish our funds.?
Tangney said the boosters did not previously require two signatures on checks written from the account and have since changed their ways of accounting to safeguard against any future problems.
‘You just don’t think it’s going to happen to your group,? she said.
On Thursday, Yannaki was arraigned in 67th District Court before Judge David J. Goggins on embezzlement of over $20,000, a 10-year felony, plus fines of $25,000, or three times the amount stolen.