Maine businessman (and Republican) steals 3.8 million from charity

[mainer]

What a mess, and in my neck of the woods. Ironically enough, he was recently honored as local "Citizen of the Year"!

CAMDEN, Maine — Former United Mid-Coast Charities board president Russell “Rusty” Brace has stolen $3.8 million from the charity since 2001, the organization stated in a civil lawsuit filed Friday. The suit further indicates that Brace admitted to stealing donations when confronted by board members last week...

Brace served as the volunteer board president of United Mid-Coast Charities from 1997 until Aug. 20 when he stepped down and the board appointed Stephen Crane as his replacement.

Crane stated in an affidavit filed in court that on Sept. 20 he spoke with one of the larger donors to the organization. The donor, who is not named in the lawsuit, stated that he recently had made three large donations totaling $75,000. Crane said that there were no records of those donations in United Mid-Coast Charities financial records.

The donor showed Crane the canceled checks and each had been deposited by Brace into another account at The First, N.A. bank, according to court documents. Crane stated in the affidavit that the charity had no account at that bank.

http://bangordailynews.com/2014/10/03/news/midcoast/former-president-of-camden-charity-stole-3-8-million-lawsuit-alleges/

[TexasTowelie]

1. Second lawsuit has been filed.

http://bangordailynews.com/2014/10/06/news/midcoast/second-lawsuit-filed-against-former-head-of-camden-charity/?ref=topStories2

That was added to the Website a few minutes ago.