Boswell woman charged with felony theft from local band boosters
BOSWELL — A 37-year-old borough woman has been charged by Boswell police with taking thousands of dollars for personal use while treasurer of the North Star Band Boosters from Oct. 01, 2022, to Aug. 2, 2023.
The boosters is an independent organization that supports the North Star District band and its student members, both morally and financially.
On Oct. 6, Randi Christine Newlin was officially charged with four theft and fraud-related felonies and three misdemeanors involving failure to deposit funds and tampering with records after a months-long investigation by the Boswell Borough Police Department.
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According to court documents, she does not have an attorney. A preliminary hearing before District Judge William Seger of Windber has not yet been scheduled.
How the charges took effect
Newlin was voted as the treasurer by the boosters. Then, on Aug. 2, officers from the band boosters contacted the police about possible misuse of the group's funds.
A police investigation ensued.
"I discovered that checks given to the Defendant (April 5 to July 29) ... had been used to obtain cash ... combined for over $2,000," Boswell Police Chief Ray Wilhelm wrote in a probable cause affidavit. Those transactions were not approved by the boosters officers, he wrote.
Newlin had obtained an ATM card attached to the North Star Band Boosters' accounts. The card had been used "on different occasions at different locations for point of sale purchases totally over $2,000," according to the affidavit. These transactions were not approved by the boosters officers.
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Wilhelm wrote, "I discovered that on two occasions monies raised from two fund raisers were given to the defendant to be deposited into the North Star Band Boosters account, but the deposits were never made."
Police claimed Newlin provided three "falsified banking statements" to the booster officers that had been altered to not show transactions made and the actual balances in the accounts.
On Sept. 5, during an interview with Newlin, she told police she had been struggling with her finances and used the ATM withdrawals to pay bills. Newlin said that she returned the ATM card to the bank, but according to Wilhelm, she had not done so.
What about the school's position
For the North Star School District, it all started when a couple of the North Star Boosters Club officers approached the administration asking what they could do to get access to their financial books because they suspected misuse of funds.
That is when Superintendent Louis Lepley explained to the group that the boosters are "100 percent separate from the schools." There was nothing the district could do.
"We have zero access to records, membership, their books or knowledge of how they operate," he said in a telephone interview Monday.
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The North Star Band Boosters is licensed through a nonprofit.
What the schools did do for the concerned members of the club was suggest that they contact the authorities. And once they did, to allow them to have a meeting to discuss the matter with the authorities in the high school one evening.
"We were very concerned. We are from the same community. The funds raised (by the boosters) are to support our students," Lepley said.
The community responds
"Many community members, after it became known that funds were (allegedly) being misused stepped up to donate," he said. "When we need them, they are there, no question," Lepley said.
This article originally appeared on The Daily American: Boswell woman charged with felony theft from local band boosters
