Girl Scout Cookie Thieves Are Back
Posted By Vicki McClure Davidson on January 22, 2012
Girls Scout cookies and cookie money thefts reported across the country
Girl Scout cookie-selling time is revving up, so of course, crime reports of cookie and cookie money thefts are back in the news.
What vermin.
In Missouri, reported by Kansas City Star, St. Joe woman charged with stealing Girl Scout Cookie money:
St. Joseph | A 23-year-old woman was charged with felony stealing for allegedly helping herself to Girl Scout Cookie money.
The state charged Stephanie Morris with felony stealing Thursday in a case in which $3,522 was missing from Girl Scout Troop No. 8705 bank account and cookie money. Morris was the local troop leader.
“It’s disappointing that we had to file a criminal complaint,” said Gina Garvin, a spokeswoman for the Girl Scouts of Northeast Kansas and Northwest Missouri.
The checks and balances in the Girl Scout Cookie program helped to bring the problem to the forefront, Garvin said.
A probable cause statement filed by a St. Joseph Police Department detective said Morris reported a burglar broke into her apartment and stole $900 worth of Girl Scout Cookie money.
This resulted in a police investigation that found the Troop No. 8705 bank account was emptied between Nov. 14 and Dec. 14. The court document indicated that the defendant confessed that she raises a niece and fell behind in paying bills.
In New York, this stunning news story was reported by Empire State News, Former Girl Scout council finance director admits stealing over $300k:
NEW YORK – A top official of the Girl Scout Council of Greater New York, Inc. admitted in court that she stole over $300,000 from the organization by writing checks to herself. Yaasmin Hooey, 35, pled guilty to grand larceny in the second degree, the most serious charge in the indictment. She is scheduled to be sentenced in New York State Supreme Court on March 6.
“The defendant’s theft from the Girl Scouts, a respected nonprofit organization, is particularly egregious,” said District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. “It was an enormous violation of the trust the Scouts placed in her as their Director of Finance, as well as the trust of the many girls that the organization serves. This Office is committed to aggressively prosecuting dishonest employees of nonprofit organizations.”
According to the plea and documents filed in court, Hooey worked for GSCGNY, based in Manhattan, for more than two years. Among other things, Hooey was responsible for managing the organization’s bank accounts, recording all checks written out of each account, reconciling checking account journals, and inputting all account activity into GSCGNY’s accounting system. She also oversaw payroll operations, setting up wire transfers for payments, printing checks for the CEO to sign, creating financial reports, and preparing the organization’s financial records for yearly audit by an outside company.
Hooey admitted that between September 2008 and December 2010 she stole $311,568 from GSCGNY. She wrote 65 checks to herself out of GSCGNY’s payroll account, totaling $275,979, either cashing the checks or depositing them into her personal checking account. All of the checks were handwritten and bore the forged signature of the GSCGNY’s then-CEO. Hooey also issued nine unauthorized wire transfers, totaling $35,606, from two GSCGNY bank accounts into her own personal checking account.
More Girl Scout cookie theft in Illinois, reported by Pantagraph.com, Stolen Girl Scout cookies found nearby:
BLOOMINGTON — Bloomington police say 46 of the 66 boxes of Girl Scout cookies stolen Monday night from a van in the 1200 block of North Evans Street were recovered Wednesday afternoon.
Police spokesman Dave White said the victim locked the van at her residence about 9:30 p.m. Monday and noticed about 7:30 a.m. Tuesday that the van had been ransacked.
She noticed the back door was not closed properly and discovered the cookies, valued at $264, were gone. Nothing else appeared to be missing, White said.
About 2 p.m. Wednesday, a person walking in the area of University and Fell avenues found 46 of the stolen boxes of cookies in some bushes at the rear of 1302 N. Fell Ave. That is about half a block away from where they were stolen.
While most Girl Scout troops are just starting to take orders, these cookies were part of a direct sales pilot program.
“This is something that only a few troops are participating with, but instead of taking orders and collecting the money and delivering the cookies in March, the Scouts have access to the cookies now and are able to collect the money and deliver the cookies at this time,” said Girl Scouts of America communication specialist Erica Douglas. “There really are only a few boxes of cookies available right now.”
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Great post – theives are such slimes stealing cookies and money from kids.