A Texas woman who stole nearly $300,000 while volunteering with a youth baseball group has been jailed. Jennifer Sue Witteveen, 52, of Arlington, began volunteering with the Mansfield Youth Baseball Association (MYAB) when her child started playing with the nonprofit group.
According to the Tarrant County District Attorney's office, Witteveen used her position as the association's treasurer to make illegal cash withdrawals and write fraudulent checks. Between January 2012 and July 2018, Witteveen is estimated to have fraudulently stole more than $295,000.
After her crimes were discovered, Witteveen claimed that she stole the money to pay for family medical bills.
However, prosecutors said she only spent around 2 percent of the stolen money on bills. Forensic accounting analysis showed that she purchased around $22,000 on products from Amazon and almost $50,000 on fast food and restaurants.
"This defendant took advantage of her leadership position in a non-profit organization that was supposed to be all about helping kids and making the city of Mansfield a great place for children to grow up," said White Collar unit prosecutor Johnny Newbern in a statement. "Instead, she lined her own pockets."
Witteveen pleaded guilty to the charge of theft of property between $150,000 and $300,000 and was sentenced to eight years in prison. Normally a 2nd degree felony, the charge was enhanced to 1st degree because she stole from a non-profit organization.
Judge Elizabeth Beach also accepted the prosecution's recommendation that Witteveen's parole be conditional on her making restitution payments to the association.
"Every dollar she took could have had a real impact on children in our community. That's something that cannot be repaid," said Newbern. "I am proud of our system for ensuring that justice was served."
The Mansfield Youth Baseball Association has been contacted for comment.
Earlier this month, a school district in Texas admitted it lost around $2.3 million in a phishing email scam.
The Manor Independent School District said the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and Manor Police Department are investigating the incident of three separate fraudulent transactions.
"Scams are unbiased, they reach anyone, anywhere, any time," Manor Police Department Detective Anne Lopez told CBS Austin.
In a statement, the school district said there are "strong leads" in the case but encouraged anyone with any information to contact police.
"Manor ISD appreciates the Manor Police Department working together to communicate this to our community," said the school district, which serves more than 9,620 students.
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
About the writer
Ewan Palmer is a Newsweek News Reporter based in London, U.K. His focus is reporting on US politics, domestic policy ... Read more
To read how Newsweek uses AI as a newsroom tool, Click here.
