Criminal charge against charitable organization founder dismissed
Jul. 15—EAU CLAIRE — A criminal charge against the administrator of a local charity, who police accused of depositing some donations into her personal account, has been dismissed.
Shauna M. Hanson, 52, of Fall Creek, was charged in Eau Claire County Court in October 2020 with a felony count of theft by false representation. Hanson is the founder of Helping Hands for Our Children.
The charge was amended to a misdemeanor count of theft in May 2021.
Hanson's attorney, Christopher Wilhelm, filed a motion in May to dismiss her criminal charge.
In the motion, Wilhelm said the criminal complaint filed against Hanson did not identify a victim, did not indicate what dollar amount she is alleged to have misappropriated, and failed to indicate any conduct on her part that is criminal.
"Due to this lack of specificity, the complaint should be dismissed," Wilhelm said in his motion.
Hanson's criminal charge was dismissed this week by Judge Emily Long after prosecutors filed their own motion to dismiss.
"It is not in the state's interest to continue prosecution," prosecutors said in their motion.
"Based on additional follow up received after the filing of the initial complaint, the state, at most, can prove that money donated to the Weighted Blanket Program was not all used for that program," the motion said. "Even if the state proves this, further prosecution is not in the interest of justice."
Jane Fisher, a member of the board of directors for Helping Hands for Our Children in the Chippewa Valley, released a statement in support of Hanson this week on the organization's Facebook page.
In the statement, Fisher said the board of directors is "extremely pleased to announce that the unsubstantiated charges of theft or financial mishandling by our program founder, Shauna Hanson, has been dropped by the district attorney's office. Our board of directors had 100% confidence in Hanson's innocence and knew this would be the end result."
According to the original criminal complaint:
An Eau Claire police detective received an anonymous letter in January 2020 pertaining to Helping Hands for Our Children. The letter said Hanson was using the charity for her and her friends' personal gain.
A second person told police Hanson was taking in charitable donations through her personal account.
During the investigation, police determined Hanson had deposited $63,000 of charitable funds into her personal account.
Hanson denied depositing charitable funds into her personal account.
