As we’ve noted before, non-profits and charities can be the easiest places to embezzle money from They are often understaffed, without strict financial oversight, and run on an assumption of trust and goodwill.
That appears to even been the case when the government is involved in the management, such as with the Mecklenburg, NC iving Fund, overseen by the county’s department of social services.According to this editorial in the Observer, a woman stole about $160,000 from the organization while working as a bookkeeper. She did so by getting cash advances, and turning in expense receipts, most of the time.
Basic rules of financial oversight, such as requiring 2 signatures, were not observed. The DSS had not had an internal audit in over 10 years.
Unfortunately, even with a government operation, this kind of lax enforcement is not uncommon or outrageous. It is a common thread in news reports of embezzlement cases that the person had been stealing money for years. You never hear of someone writing one fraudulent check to themselves out of a company account, and getting caught instantly.
The problem with embezzlement cases is that people do get away with it, at least for a while. Not getting caught makes it tempting to try again, and again.
The best you can do is hope to get most of the money back as a forfeiture, which they are attempting to do in this case.
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