Letter: Lakewood Officers' Charity response to embezzlement
Posted on February 8, 2012John Unfred, Treasurer, Lakewood Officers' Charity
The Lakewood Officers’ Charity was shocked and outraged when we first learned about the allegations of theft of donated funds intended for the Charity. Federal prosecutors have charged Skeeter Manos with ten counts of wire fraud. Manos was the Treasurer of the Lakewood Police Independent Guild, but has never been a member of the Charity’s executive board. Since being notified, we have fully and completely cooperated with the investigation. We will refer all questions pertaining to the investigation to the U.S. Attorneys’ Office.
We were moved and overwhelmed by the generous donations from the community and beyond in the aftermath of losing our four Officers in
November 2009. The Lakewood Officers’ Charity received and can fully account for $3.2 million of your generous donations. We are the 501 (c) (3) charitable organization who created and funded the Fallen Four Officers Children’s Trust Fund to benefit the children of our fallen
Officers.
We will continue our efforts in the community through our Make A Difference Fund, which is our original charitable purpose. We raise money
each year to support our programs in the community that help those who are in need of immediate assistance.
Our charity operates under strict financial practices and utilizes a tax professional for the preparation of our annual tax returns and financial
reports. We are a registered charity with the State of Washington. Our Make a Difference Fund was established in 2008 and is not a part of this alleged embezzlement.
As in any criminal case, Skeeter Manos is presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
We refuse to allow the actions of one person to interfere with the intended purpose of our charity and the good work our Officers do in our
community every day.
junfred@LakewoodOfficerCharity.com
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2 Comments
February 9th, 2012 at 4:57 am
OK but this must have been going on for some time. One doesn't just go out and write a check for $150,000 and go on a spending spree at Cosco or gambling trips to local casinos or Las Vegas. It takes time to embezzle that amount of money. Manos may be presumed innocent but I think we can also presume $150,000 is missing. Apparently your "strict financial practices" aren't strict enough. When did the embezzlment start; how was it accomplished; when did someone discover it; why did they even bother to look in the first place; when was it reported internally; how was that initial report handled; how did it finally hit the street; what safeguards are not in place to prevent a reoccurance? If you are going to maintain the integrity of your charities, indeed your police department, you will have to come completely clean and transparent on this matter. You can't hide behind a shield. It's a matter of public money, public trust, public officials.
February 9th, 2012 at 11:32 am
I think you are right about that, phantom, but this is so sad. I also think there is a bigger problem. There are obvious some unfinished issues looming in the Lakewood PD. Emotional ones that are obviously quite big. They are not dealing with the severe emotional trauma. Something is going on and they need to deal with it or they will continue to have these "shocking" problems. They have had previous problems with someone with PTSD -- and I suspect there are a lot more. They need to let these officers get the true help they need no matter what it is and get it where they need it. No one is truly dealing with the real issue.