PTC, school probe missing booster club funds

Tue, 08/28/2007 - 3:57pm
By: John Munford

Peachtree City police are looking into possible criminal charges against the former president of the Booth Middle School Athletic Booster Club for admitting to diverting $9,900 from the booster club’s bank account.

Meanwhile, officials with the Fayette County School System are investigating why the incident wasn’t promptly reported to school system officials, School Superintendent John DeCotis confirmed Tuesday afternoon.

DeCotis said he was first informed of the financial improprieties not by Booth officials but in a phone call from a newspaper Friday.

That information came almost a week after Booth Assistant Principal Ron Plauche confronted the former booster club president, Matt Trebuchon, at Trebuchon’s home Saturday, Aug. 18, according to a police report from the Peachtree City Police Department. During that visit, Trebuchon admitted that he took the money, the report stated.

The matter should have been reported immediately to either the school system’s athletic director or the finance office, DeCotis said. That way the school system can assist in the probe, DeCotis said.

One of the reasons school system officials hadn’t been informed right away was because Booth officials were conducting their own investigation into the matter, working with other members of the booster club, DeCotis said.

“Their investigation, apparently, was not complete,” DeCotis said.

Trebuchon initially told Plauche that he was having tax problems, the police report said.

After the confrontation at Trebuchon’s home, the school received a check “for the remainder of the stolen money,” according to the police report. DeCotis said Tuesday afternoon that he has been told that all the money, or most of it, had been paid back, but he could not confirm either report.

Trebuchon has not been charged with any crime as of Tuesday, said Police Chief James Murray. But police detectives opened the investigation Friday and have not attempted to contact Trebuchon for an interview yet, Murray said Tuesday morning.

“We need to find out if this occurred,” Murray said, noting that police will also look to see if other similar incidents have occurred with the Booth booster club account.

The Citizen left a phone message at Trebuchon’s home Tuesday morning but it was unreturned.

Decotis said he has been informed that Trebuchon is no longer affiliated with the Booth athletic booster club, but he didn’t know if Trebuchon’s term as president had expired or if he had resigned from the position.

The police report stated that the two checks in question were written from the booster club’s account to First Class Events, which was later determined to actually be USSSA Baseball Productions, a company for which Trebuchon is employed as southeastern regional director. One of the checks was for $7,400 and the other was for $2,500, police said.

Murray noted that the booster club checks only require one person’s signature to be valid, which is different from many other organizations which may require two or more signatures to make sure funds are disbursed appropriately.

“I was kind of shocked that there was only one signature required on the checks,” Murray said.

DeCotis said there are all kinds of different booster clubs for schools, not just athletic booster clubs but those for other activities such as band, science olympiad and others. Although the booster clubs are separate entities from schools with their own by-laws, the school system will work with them to keep something like this from happening again, with help from athletic directors at each school, DeCotis said.

Booster club parents should be sure their organization follows clearly defined by-laws and also follows the safeguards required by their bank.

While the Booth athletic booster club organization is separate from the school, the booster club’s checks feature the school’s logo and have the school’s address on them, Murray said.

The incident came to light after Booth officials noticed the school was receiving bills from several vendors for unpaid purchases which were supposed to be paid for by the school’s athletic booster account, Plauche told the school’s resource police officer, according to the police report.

A further investigation into the matter was conducted by Plauche and the school accountant, who reviewed checks and other documents from BB&T bank, the report stated.

Plauche initially reported the irregularities to the school resource police officer on Aug. 14, but three days later a BB&T official informed the school accountant that Trebuchon deposited $8,400 “but had taken several certified checks and cashier checks.”

A stop check action was taken on each of the checks, the police report stated, and Plauche came to Trebuchon’s home to confront him about the account’s problems the very next day.

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Submitted by JJsMom on Wed, 08/29/2007 - 10:13pm.

but today I heard there's more to this story than what's been reported. I'm not forming an opinion (you're innocent until proven guilty) till the whole story is out and I don't believe this is it.

Submitted by jswey07 on Tue, 08/28/2007 - 11:19pm.

Matt Trebuchon is a saint.

Submitted by baseballfan01 on Tue, 09/04/2007 - 10:37am.

how much of the school's money did mr. trebuchon use to pay for his $350./night vacation in April??? Most people with tax problems don't usually take vacations of this magnitude...

Cyclist's picture
Submitted by Cyclist on Wed, 08/29/2007 - 7:02am.

but, he can also be in a big heap of trouble!!!

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Submitted by danreink on Tue, 08/28/2007 - 5:33pm.

yes this is bad when somebody steals from our school but it is twice as bad when someone steals from kids!!!! this guy hosted the jr usssa world series in lovejoy and my 7 year old team came in 3rd place and this crook didnt even give out a trophy for this--wow what an accomplishment for these kids im proud of them!!! oh and he also was charging littlt kids 7 and under 7 dollars to get in there to watch after charging 495 dollars team fee what a crook---get him fayette---he says on his answer machine(remember that it is for the love of the game} i think it the love of money not game get him boys!!!!!!!

Submitted by danielm on Wed, 08/29/2007 - 5:21am.

Yes this is a serious situation. And it sounds like this guy has made a really bad decision. But everyone makes mistakes and you have no clue what type of problems this guy might have and still might be facing. To bring up how much he charged to get in to a baseball tournament is non-sense. If you don't what to pay an admission fee don't go. Also it is great that your son's 7 year old team came in third place in the tournament but if you want trophies, plaques or something of that sort, these are usually reserved for the first and maybe the second place team(s). It sounds like your comment has more to do with a personal vendetta you have with this man, which this is not the forum for that. The citizen provides us this service so we can discuss and make comments about their stories not to listen to a grown man cry about admission fees.

nuk's picture
Submitted by nuk on Wed, 08/29/2007 - 5:39am.

:Yes this is a serious situation. And it sounds like
:this guy has made a really bad decision. But everyone
:makes mistakes and you have no clue what type of problems
:this guy might have and still might be facing.

I could care less about his problems. Once he decided to
steal money from the booster fund he had been entrusted with,
he became a thief. Yeah, conversion of funds for personal use
IS a really bad decision and I hope he's charged. The paying-it-
back-after-getting-caught is a little late.


Cyclist's picture
Submitted by Cyclist on Tue, 08/28/2007 - 5:51pm.

very sad. Hopefully, the boosters will get their money back and then change their policy that will require two signatures on checks.

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Caution - The Surgeon General has determined that constant blogging is an addiction that can cause a sedentary life style.


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